

M 



HOLUNGER 
pH 8.5 

MILL RUN F3-1543 




SPEECH 



OF 



MR. HALE, OF NEW HAMPSlIUiE, 

/ • ON 



V 



THE TERRITORIAL QUESTION. 



-'V 

v/ DBIHEEED IS THE SESAIE OF THE U.VITEU ST.ITES, TIESDAV, JMRCH IS, ISiO. 



The Senate having under consideration the com- 
promise resolutions submitted some time since by 
Mr. Clay — 

Mr. HALE. Mr. President, it seems to have been 
admitted by almost every one who hus addrtssed the 
Senate on the subject whii-h has for some titne past 
engaged the attention oi this body, that the Senate 
and the country at large are divided into two classes— 
I will not say two great classes, but one large and 
one very small one; that the great body of the Senate 
and of the country are patriotic ; that they earnest- 
ly and anxiously desire that the distracting questions 
which divide and harass the country may be settled 
upon some just and patriotic grounds; while on the 
other hand, there are a few, designated as extremists. 
or uUraists, who do not desire to see any such enc 
effected; who desire, in other words, to promote agi- 
tation ; who are an.xious for nothing but trouble and 
disturbance; whose sole purpose is to increase the 
irritation that already e.\ists in the community — to 
keep the public mind sore, the public pulse throbbing 
irregularly with feverish heat. Nothing, it is said, is 
so stransje as the physical and moral organization of 
these few gentlemen ; agitation is the aliment upon 
which they leed, and by which they live : take away 
that, and their life, tlitir occupation, all which fur- 
nishes them with a motive for living, is gone. 

Now, I have not a word to say personally against 
this ; I am glad, sir, that these nltraisls, if they do 
nothing more, at least accomplish this much good — 
that they aH'ord this wholesome safety-valve to these 
extra exhibitions of patriotism on the part of those 
who are in the habit of addressing the Senate. Hard- 
ly any one seems to suppose that he has discharged 
the duty which he owes to the country, or done what 
he ou^ht to do to satisfy his constituents, unless he 
mingles with the suggestions wiiich he makes whole- 
sale denunciations against those ultraists—ihose agi- 
tators ; and even the calm and judicial mind of the 
Senator from North Carolina, who has just concluded 
his remirks, is so infected with the prevailing mania, 
that even he, educated as he has been upon the 
bench, where he learned to sanction a line of safe 
precedents, could not sit down satisfied that he had 
discharged his duty, until he had relieved his con- 
science of a due proportion of vituperation against 
these miserable fanatics and agitators. 

I think, tl'.en, it must be granted that the agitators 
do some good -at least by atlording a safe and whole- 
some channel through which this extra exhibition of 
patriotic indignation may find vent. 1 do hope that, 
if it be not conceded that they do any other good, at 
least credit will be at corded to them for this much. 
I have not a word to say in reference to the good 
taste or the truth and candor which prompts such a 
course. 1 make no appeal to gentlemen, who feel a 
consciousness in their own breasts that they are 
governed by high, puie, and elevated motives, to 



consider how far it is consistent with a proper sclf- 
resjiect to be continually employed in depieciating 
and attacking the motives of others. 

When 1 obtained the floor, sir, some time since, 
after the address that was delivered by the distin- 
guished .Senator from South Carolina, who is not 
now in his seat, I suggested that, according to my 
reading of history, the account which he hai under- 
taken to give of these agitations sounded i(j my mind 
more like the romance than the truth of history, and 
that I designed, upon some occasion, when it suited 
the convenience of the Senate, to set history right in 
some particulars alluded to by him. And that Is one 
of the objects I propose to myself to-day. I shall, 
sir, be compelled to call the attention of the Senate 
to the speech of the Senator from South Carolina 
somewhat in detail ; and, in devoting some few mo- 
ments to a preparation upon this subject, 1 endeav- 
ored to make something of an analysis of it. Before 
I had proceeded very far in my examination, I found 
it assumed the form of a regular catechism— questions 
and answers being given. In the first place it com- 
menced with a concession of the fact that the Union 
was in great danger; then it asks — 

•■ 1. How can the Union be preserved'! 

'• Aiisicer.— To give a satisfactory answer to this mighty 
question, it is indispensable to have an accurate and tho- 
rough kiowledge of the nature and character of the cause 
by which the Union is endangered. 

'♦•J. Wliat h.-is endangered the Union'? 

'•.■tHsirer.— To this question there can be but cne answer ; 
that the immediate cause is the almost universal discontent 
which pervailesall the States composing the Southern sec- 
tiou of ilie Uuioii. 

"3. What is the cause of tliis discontent? 

"Ansirer. — lt will be found in the belief of the people of 
tlie Southern States, as prevalent as the discontent itself, 
tliat they cannot remain, as things now are, consistently 
with honor and safety, in the Union. 

•• 4. What lias caused this belief 7 

''Answer.— One of the causes is, undoubtedly, to be traced 
to the long-continued agitation of the slave question on the 
part of the North, and the many aggressions which they 
liave made on the rights of the South during the time. I 
will nor enumerate tliem at present, as it will be done here- 
after in its proper place. There is another lying back of it, 
with which this is Intimately connected, that may be re- 
garded as the great ami primary cause. That is to be found 
in the fact that the equilibrium between the two sections In 
the Government, as it stood when the Constitution was 
ratified and the Government put In action, has been de- 
stroyed." 

Now, sir, the first act of this Government, in the 
series of these events which has broken up this 
equilibrium and caused this universal discontent, the 
honorable Senator says, is the Ordinance of 1787. I 
shall not undertake to go particularly into the history 
of that Ordinance, because it is familiar to the Senate 
and the coimtry, and has been frequently referred to 
by gentlemen who have already addressed the Senate 
on this subject. This, mark you, is the first in the 
series of Northern aggressions by which the equilib- 
rium which once existed has been destroyed. 



Mr. BUTI-ER. The word " aggression " does not 
occur in \utt speech, in that connection, at all 

Mr. HALK. I do not know exactly whether the 
Senator us«xl the word " aggreaaion " or not ; per- 
hap« he did not. 

Mr. lU TLtil, (in hia seat.) 1 know he did not. 
Mr. HALF..* Ai anv rate, it is one of the acin 
which liiis dcntroytd ilie «-<iuilibriuin. That in it. 
The e-i iilibriuin is spoken of bv the Senator aiverul 
times nnt the Ordinance of 17*7 was one of the 
}'r • • ••-■-■ of evints which, he claims, de- 
•riuiu. And, sir, it is curious thiit 
i; "\ .riht-rn aggression — iltc Ordinance 

of IT::? — was aJopttd In tlie Convtniion of 17-7, 
with but a single disseniinj; voif, and thul wiis it 
Northern vot<-. Yt», sir, ihf only vote in the t'on- 
vention of 17f7 against this Ordinance, which is said 
to have broken up the eouilibrluin of tlte States that 
originally exi>tcd, and which was to !>.• perpeiujtid 
between the .Northern iind Southern Stiites, was u 
vatefroin a Northern Stale — the State of New York ; 
for ihf delegate* from every other State voted unan- 
imously for it— the delegates from South Carolina 
anions; the nuinb«'r. 

Well, sir, what followed ? I propose toslww now, 
if the Stnute will ^ive me their attention, that this 
famous Ordinance of 17?7, which has now got to bo 
the Wihnot Proviso, and which is deemed to be so 
insultini! to the Southern States of theConfeder;icy, 
if It if retained in our Federal legist. lion; that this 
Ordinance of 17?7, older than the Constitution, was 
re-enactid by the first Con{.Tess which assembled 
under that Constiiuiion, and in the preamble to the 
act which rccoj;nisid the Ordinince it is expressly 
recited that it is lione in order that its provisions 
shall be made conformable to the Constitution of the 
United Slates. The act was approved the 7ih Au 
EU-it, ITS', and is to be found in chapter Sih o( the 
laws of the United States. The preamble I will 
read. It is as follows : 

" Will r--;!*, in or i> r that the OrJinauce of the I'liited 
Suirs II. < I .f-.- ,is.-> iiililed, for the Rovernmeiit ol' the 
Trmi' • I'f the rivi-r Ohio, may coiilinue lo 

liuvr I ir(|ulnilc ihalcerinin provisions shouM 

l>f m I ' : !.i|'i ihe same to tlie preteDl Coiislitu- 

tiuii .f ti.-j Lii ;• 1 >(.itcB." 

That, sir, was the position of the first Congress 
that ns*embled under the Federal Consiiiutinn; it 
re-enacted and re-established the provisions of that 
Ordinanei-. Now, sir, wc have been told to-..'iiy, as 
well as on previous occasions, that, if this principle 
is insisted on, it is an insult and such a i,'rievous 
wror.g that the Southern States, if they remain in 
the Confederacy, will remain not from any principle 
of attachment to the Union, but from fear of the bit- 
ter conse-'i-icnccs which mitjlii fi)llow seci««ion. Now, 
I undertake to say that 1 will prove, i» the satisfac- 
tion of every reasonable man who can read the sta- 
tutes of the country, that the principle embodied in 
that Ordinance of 17-?7, and rc-enacii'i! by the first 
Congress under the Federal Constitution — who de- 
clarMi that they did it to adapt its provisions to those 
of the Federal Consiiluiion— has been continued to 
l>c re-eiiac;cd. in substance, from tin- lime of Gen. 
VVashin^ion, who 'ijjned the first nri, .liwn to James 
K. I'olk, who si;'ned the same provision in the Ore- 
gon bill ; and that the talk which is raised by gen- 
tlemen a*i<>ut niakin;; an une(|ual und unjust discrimi- 
nation i«bout properly, hasn"' ■ ' ' -i whii-h may 
not Willi eijiiol lUbllce be ;il ' every one 

of the .jets of the Federal ' ■ ' orcani/ing 

Territories, which mark our lu-'ory Irotu the ndop- 



Ul« I T 

Ai 
tim' 

• III' 

tix u 



I!.'- I .;.,■,. '.I '■:.• S'lilli .loriii; 

-im' t>««n, he M)r» ' "At llmi 
librtum brtwvrn th« two. 
.I'-li to protect llaelfafaliurt 



tion of the Consiiiution down to ihe present time. 
1 ask the attention of the Senate to the subject. It 
will be found that, as early as 1794, on the Jid March, 
by an act of Contjress, General Washintrion then be- 
ing President- whilst the foreign slave trade was not 
urohibited, and could not be by the provisions of the 
Federal Consiituiion until IStlB; while the trade in 
foreign sKive-i was the subject of le;»itimate commerce 
under the Cunsiitiition; while every citizen of the 
United States had a right, under the laws and the 
Constitution, to go from any port of the United 
States to the coast of Africa and take a car£;o of 
slaves and bring them to any port in the United 
Slates— Congress, in 1794, made a discrimination 
against this species of properly, and prohibited the 
building or fining out of any vessel for the purpose 
of carrying slaves to anv foreign country : they mit;ht 
bring them here; but Congress thus far discrimina- 
ted against that species of property as early as 1794, 
whilst it was a t-ubject of le(,'al commerce under the 
Constituiion of the United States. Congress did not 
interlere, provided the slaves were brought home; 
but they did, and utterly destroyed that species of 
properly as an article of commerce, when an attempt 
was made to carry it to anv foreign country. That 
was an act passed under tleorge Washington. Its 
provisions were as follows : 

".■in nrt In /iruhi/iit Ihe currying en Ihe Slave Trade from 
Ihe U lii led Slate* lu any fore i/pi plate or cuunlry. 

"Sec. 1 prohl)<il8 builttiiig or filling out vessels for the 
purpube of carryiuK slaves to any furelpn country, or pro- 
curing them ill any for'-icu couiiiry to carry iheni to an- 
otlier. Vehsels fillnl nut lor that purpose forfeiti<l. 

"Sec. 2 imposesa penally nf r.i.l«>Ooii any personaiding 
or al^rtliii;; in tilliiig out such a vessel. 

"See. ;i. Any owner, master, or factor of any vessel 
ilearinK for Ai'rira. or suspected of being inteiiileJ for llie 
h'lave traile, are P-'ipiired lo give bond in substance not to 
violate Ihe proviMons of iliis art. 

"Sec. 4 imposes a prnalty of 8200 for every person re- 
ceived on board anv vessel lu violation of this net. 

"G. WASHINGTON. 

"Approved, March 22, 17M." 

Tfyfi is on net passed in 1794. Well, sir, other acts 
of M^tmilar ch.iractcr, only more express and e.x- 
plicft in their provisions, may be found. In the act 
of 179?, for the settlement of the limits of the Slate 
of Georgia, and the establishment of a Government 
for the Mississippi Territory, passed on the 7ih 
April, 179S : 

"Sec. 3 establisbeg a Government for the Mississippi 
Territory-, in all rcspeeis similar to ihat now exercised lu 
llic Territory norihwestof the river Ohio, eicepiinjt and ex- 
cluding the last arlicle of the Ordinance made lor the gov- 
ernment Iherrol hy llie late t'ongr>ss, on Ihe 13th of July, 
1787. which provides thai there shall be neither slavery nor 
involiiiilary servitude. otherwise than iu the punishment of 
crimts, ic. 

"Sec 7 makes It uelawfiil to bring slaves into Mississippi 
Territory Ironi unv place without the llnlird Stales, Imposes 
a pi'iially of t^jllij Ut every slave thus brought into Ihe Ter- 
riiory in violation of Ihe provisions of this act, and givec 
every slave thus brought in his or her freedom 

••.^pproveil, April 7. ITU'^ " 

Look nt the provisions of that nc. Slaves might 
legally be imporiid into the United States for ten 
years after that act was passed ; they might be import- 
ed, and were as much and as leiially a subject of 
property r.s anything else, but (."ongress took occa- 
sion to rei,'ul:iieihat species o( property ten years be- 
fore the prohibition to the importation of slavi s was 
to take ell'i ( t, and dedari d that slaves should not be 
carried into the Mississippi Territory from any place 
wiihoiii the United .Si.itcs, ond that any slave car- 
ried thi re became fre<'. and a penally was imposed 
on those that took them there. 

Slaves were ni that time— In 1709 -legal articles 
of commerce. Congress had no power under the 
Constitution to prohibit vspstls from coing to 
foreign countric'*, and 'nkinij cargoes of slaves, and 
bringing ihein lure. They were, under the Consti- 
tution, as legitimately articles of commerce as sugar 
or mola»«<*ii. Well, < 'ongress did iindcrtaki', that 
early in 1799, to soy thul alavus, which were recog- 



nised as articles of commerco in the States, should 
not be carritd into the Territories. That fact estab- 
Ushea two points. It shows that Congress iegi.^iated 
for the Territories, and it shows that they legislated 
upon this particular .subject within the Territories. 

Well, sir, there are other acts of a similar character. 
In an act erecting Louisiana into two Territories, 
and providing; for tlie temporary government thereof, 
approved the 'ilst March, 1801, section 10 prohibits 
the bringing into said Territory, from any place with- 
out the United States, any slave or sluveu, and im- 
posed a fine of three hundred dollars for any slave so 
imported; and, further, the act prohibited the bringing 
into the Territory any slave or slaves which shall 
have been imported into the United States since the 
1st day of May, 1793, or which shall hereafter be im- 
ported. Under the provisions of this act, passed in 
1804, Congress undertook to say that slaves which 
had been imported into one of the slave Slates be- 
tween 1798 and lSO-1, lair matters of commerce under 
' the Constitution, should not be carried into the Ter- 
ritory, and imposed a penalty on any one so carrying 
them. Here, tlien, i-s an express and explicit recog- 
nition, on the part of Congress, of the right and 
authority of Congress thus to legislate upon this 
subject. 

Under the provisions of this law, no one could 
move from a slave State into the Louisiana Territory 
in 1901, '2, and '3, and carry with him slaves imported 
from Africa into any State subsequently to 1798. Or 
if they did, they did it in violation of this law, which 
prohibited it. 

I will not weary the Senate by going over the 
history of these several acts. They will, very many 
of them, be found in a speech delivered in this body 
on the 20rh June, 1843, by Mr. Di.x, then a member 
from the State of iVew York, and they come down 
to the very last Congress — because the last Congress, 
adhering to the legislation heretofore practiced, pass- 
-ed the Oregon bill, containinsr this very same prohi- 
bition, and it was signed by Mr. James K. Polk. He 
certainly must have understood it to be a constitu- 
tional prohibition, the constitutional exercise of a 
right vested in Congress, or he never would have 
signed it. 

The proposition was made Ln both Houses to put 
the enactment of that clause in the Oregon bill on 
the ground that it was north of thirty-six degrees 
thirty minutes. Both Houses refused to do it. It 
went to Mr. Polk, and he signed it, and sent it back 
with a paper, the substance of which, as I read it, 
was, that it was constitutional then, but never would 
be again. That, sir, has been the legislation of Con- 
gress, older than tite Constitution, comiag down 
through successive Presidents — Washington, Adams, 
Jackson, Van Buren, and so on; and, in the organi- 
zation of Territorial Governments in Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Florida, and Michigan, all in express 
terms recognising this right : sometimes limiting 
slavery to a certain class of slaves, in other instances 
excluding it altogether. 

And now we are told that if we adhere to this 
long-established, well-considered construction of the 
Constitution ; if we continue to tread in the old path 
which our fathers marked out for us, that t!.e sensi- 
bility, the sen-itiveness of the South, which has been 
sleeping for more than fifty years, will be galvanized 
into such activity, as to endanger the Union itself. 

Well, sir, these arguments may be all potent, but I 
want to put history right. We are told that this 
agitation of the subject of slavery here is something 
new, and the Senator from South Carolina gave it a 
date of fifte(#n years. He said that it had commenced 
in 1835, and that as soon as it was introduced, he 
saw the mischief that was to ensue from it. The 
honorable Senator from South Carolina did not go 
back far enough; agitating papers of the sort com- 
plained of came here longer ago than that. He ought 
to have gone back to 1776, and he would have found 
■one of the most "agitating" and ■'fanatical" papers 
tbat he could well find, beginning with the declara- 



tion that all men are created equal. The agitation 
of thi.s question of slavery goes back as far as that, 
and it shows what was the action and understanding 
of the men of that day. I wish to read, sir, a peti- 
tion presented to the first CongrcBs that ever assem- 
bled under the Federal Constitution, and signed by 
one of the irreai minds that framed it. I allude, air, 
to Doctor Franklin ; not one of these modern "agi- 
tators," not one of those amphibious atiimals, that 
have been describ- d as (lying about in the twilight, 
between light and darkness. 

On the 12ih February, 177fi, Benjamin Franklin, 
as I'resident of the Pennsylvania Society for promot- 
ing the abolition of slavery, the relief of free negroea 
unlawfully held in bondage, and the improvement of 
the .Vfrican race, presented a petition, which I send 
to the Clerk'a table to be read : 

Fkb/ii-arv 12, 1790. 

" A memorial of the Penrisylvania sjoctety for promoting 
tlie :il)iilJiloiiof .sUvrry, the relief of free iieijroeH unlaw fully 
belli in bondage, and llie improvement o( the African race, 
was prcseuteii and read. 

"The memorial respectfully showeth : 

"That, from a resanl for the happines.s of mankin'l, an 
association was formed, several years since, in this State, 
by a number of her citizens, of various relijL'ious denomi- 
nations, for promotins; the abolition of slavery, and for tHe 
relit f of ihose unlawhilly held inboiulase. A just and acute 
i-oiic-iition of the true principles of liberty, as it spread 
throu^'h the land, produced accession.s to tlieir numbers, 
many friends to their cause, and a lei;islative co-operation 
with their views, which, by the blessing of Divine Provi- 
dence, have been successfully directed to the relieyjnjjfrom 
bondage a larfte number of their fellow-creatures, of the 
African race. They have also the satisfaction to observe, 
that, in consequence of that spirit of philanthropy and gen- 
uine liberty which is generally diffusing its beneficial in- 
tluence, similar institutions are forming at home and 
abroad. 

"That mankind are all formed by the same Almighty 
Being, alike objects of his care, and equally designed for 
the enjoyment of happiness, the Christian religion teaches 
us to believe, and the political creed of America fully coin- 
cides with ihe position. 

" Your memorialists, particularly engaged in attending 
to Ihe distresses arising Irom slavery, believe it to be their 
indispensable duly to present this subject to your notice. 
They have observed, with real satisfaction, that many im- 
portant and salutary powers are vested in you, for 'pro- 
moting tlie welfare and securing the blessings of liberty to 
the people of the United States;' and, as they conceive 
that these blessings ought rightfully to be administered 
without distinction of color to all descriptions of people, so 
they indulge themselves in the pleasing e.xpectation that 
noliiiiig which can be done for the relief of the unhappy 
objects of their care will be either omitted or delayed. 

" From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the 
portion and is still the birthright of all men, and influenced 
by the strong ties of humanity and the principles of their 
institutions, your memorialists conceive themselves bound 
to use all justifiable endeavors to loosen the bonds of slavery, 
and promote a general enjoyment of the blessings of free- 
dom. 

"Under these impressions, they earnestly entreat your 
serious attention to the subject of slavery ; that you will be 
pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to those 
unhappy men, who alone in this land of freedom are de- 
graded into perpetual bondage, and wlio, amitlst the general 
joy of surrounding freemen, are groining in servile sub- 
jection ; that you will devise means f^jr removing this iu- 
consir^tency from the character oT the American people ; 
that ynu will promote mercy and justice towards this dis- 
tressed race; and that you will step to the very verge of 
the power vested iu you, for discouraging every species of 
traffic in the persous of our fellow-men. 

"HEN.!. FRANKLIN, President. 

'" Philadelphi.v, Febi~uart/3. 1790." 

Objection was made to the reception of the peti- 
tion, and a debate ensued, when a motion to refer it 
to a committee prevailed, by a vote of 43 ayes to II 
noes. It was considjred in committee, reported on, 
and the whole subject was under debate on the Bth. 
Sth, and 9th of March, 1790— the proceedings of 
which action in Congress may be found in the Jour- 
nals, page ISO. I only refer to this history to show 
that there were "fanatics" and "agitators" in earlier 
times than the year 1835 ; that there were men who 
were aflecled with this " mania" long ago ; and that 
amongst those upon whose grave must fall the de- 



nunciation? imi nrv »o freely and frpqutntlv heard 
here, i» !ht- man who alone of mortal man hud vision 
t-nou«;h to answer the question pro|><>8cd by the 
Aimigh'y lu his servant long n'^o, when he asikeJ 
him if he "can discover the way of the lightning of 
thunder 1 " 

Well, j>ir, I have another document, and n very 
curious one it ie^, too, referring to the action on this 
subject Idter in the history of Conpr-'ss. It is to bo 
found in till- fourth volume of the House Journals, 
f>aj;e S"'!, .«'eond s.tixion of seventh Congresn, under 
date of March "J. ]'r<Ki\ and it is. sir, a case in jioint. 
The Territory of Indiana then biintr iin»!er th<' pro- 
visions of the Ordinance of Kreidom of l"^^7, the 
people of Indiana, through n public mt-etini.', o{ 
which William Henry Harrision was President, peti- 
tioned th;it this uniilr of the Ordinance of 'f-T, pro- 
hibiiin;: blavtry :n the Territory, might bi suspended 
for a given nuinU-r of years — about ten, I believe it 
was. The petition was referred to n committee, of 
which the celebrnttHl John Randolph, of V.rginla, 
was chairman. 1 desire to read an extract from his 
report, because it show.<s what sentiment!! obtained in 
Virginia on this subject, in 1SU3: 

JlvUM Jjuma.', Vol -1, Parf .TSl— 3d Sesiion 7l/i Congress- 
March 2, 1*W. 

"H iVom l!if ri>mo)itlee to wliirh were re- 

ffrr- i Willidui llfiiry Ilarriwin, Prrsiil'-iit of 

ilie ( i Bt Vuicrnurii, (Irclarillf: llieconscul uf 

the ;- iia to llir susneiiKiuii uf llir i^ixtli article 

of 1- • '11 llie liiiltd Slates ami llir people of 

tliai 1 a nienioriul ami peliliuii of llir inhabit- 

aulxoi i ..■ '.^ ■. iiir.loiy, niailc llie IhIIowmic repurl ; 

"Tliattlie rapiiljiopulaliiiuofllii-Siati' ol Uliiniiuiru'ii'ntly 
evinces, in tlif upuiiuii of yourconiniillt-t-. Iliat the labor of 
slaves 18 not utcfssnry Id promote tbe growth auil seltle- 
meut of roloiiieB in that resjion ; that this labor, demonstra- 
bly the dt-Hre<>l of any, cau uuly l>e employed to udvaiiUiKe 
iQ the culiivation of pro<lucts more valuable than any 
known to tlial (juarlcr of die I'uilei) Stales; that the com- 
millFed'-em it hichly d.in^eruiis and iuexpeilieiit to impair 
a provision wisely caliulaled to [iromole the happiness and 
prosperity of I he North weslern country, and to give slreO'^lii 
and securily to that extensive frontier. In thebahilar^' op- 
eration of tins saearjous ami beuevoleiit restraint, il is be- 
lieved Ihat the iuliabilants of Indiana will, at im very dis- 
unt day. lind ample rimiinerntion for a temporary priva- 
tion of Utior and of emicraliou. ..... 

"From such a consideration as they have been eiiableil 
to bestow ou the subj-rcl at this late perio<l of Ihe session, 
and under ttie pressure of accumuUlilig business, they 
r»<:ommend the following residulions, which are respect- 
fully submitted to the jii.lgnient of tlic IIous*.-. 

"1 Jt/soitfd. That i( is inexpedient to suspend, for a 
lioiiled time, the openilinn of the sixth article of compart 
between Ihe orixiiial Suies and Uie people and Slates we«l 
of the Ohio. 

••2. 6lc , 4c." 

And, sir, is there a citizen of Indiana to-dar, who 
will not rise up and do credit to the sngaciiy and 
philanthropy of John Itai.dolph, when he told them 
that, in the wisdom and sairuciiy of that c.tereise of 
power, they would find ampb' remuneration for any 
tempora-y grievance they might be siillering under, 
by tne pri sent application ? And, sir, here was a case 
stronger than any which has been or can be pre:>cntcd 
here — a cum- of a 'IVrrftory of the United .States, set- 
tled by freemen, wjih slavery intcrdicied, who come 
forward and ask Conjjress to relieve them from that 
interdiction— !o relieve them from that prohibition — 
and Congress refused to do ii. And they refused to 
do It upon the rejiort from which 1 have just read — 
thai made by Mr. John Randolph of Virginia. 
Now, sir, I think I may safrlv Icaye that pari <>f the 
subjec', the Ordinance of l'^, having shown lliut it 
was not lnipo-«d by a f>arl, but that it was the act of 
the whole country. It was iinpn'swd upon the legis- 
lation of the country at its earliest period ; it has con- 
tinued there ever since, and it remainii there now. 
Wh»i do f/etii|rin<n want 7 On the principle that 
thev - '• •' ■ ' an Insult, do they want 

lor ' the Oregon Territory 7 

Do . ; from the history of our 

legl«lai.,n : riuy cjn speak for thenii>elve«, air, on 
(hat po.nt. 



The wcond matter which has disturbed the equi- 
librium, according to the arguments of the Sena- 
tor, is tlie Missouri Compromise. Sir, the Missouri 
Comproniise disturbed the equilibrium of those 
Northern Representatives that voted for it, more 
than anythiiis elst that ever happened; and that is 
the only etiuilibrium I ever heard of as bein^' dis- 
turbed by that Compromise. Not only did it dis- 
turb their e<iuilibrium, but it threw them entirely ofi' 
it, and, with but very rare exceptions, these politi- 
cians have not yet recovered their equilibrium, and, 
what is more, they never will. NVell, sir, if, uceord- 
ing to the argument of the Senator from South Caro- 
lina, the Missouri Compromise was such an odious 
measure, and has had such an injurious eHl-ct upon 
the South, 18 it not singular that we find nearly 
eveiy .Suuiliern man voting for it, and every Norih- 
I rn man votin;; against it, whenever ii is otitred ? .4t 
the last session, when a motion was made to insert 
the Missouri Compromise in a Territorial bill, nearly 
every gentleman rtprtsenting a Southern State on 
this floor voted for it. and the Northern men, as a 
body, were against it. Then, sir, it is the South wh» 
were aggressivi-. and who were destroying the equi- 
librium; and it is the North who have resisted it. 
.\nd further, has not every other Soulliern gentle- 
man wl;o has spoken here of that Compromise char- 
acterized it as a great healing measure, and as one 
that gave quiet, peace, and security to the country, 
and will do it again, if adopted? And is it not a 
curious spectacle that they should thus ask us to 
return and settle down on one of the very measures 
that, in the ofiinion of the Senator from South Caro- 
lina, has been so potent and eH'ectual In destroying 
the equilibrium ? 

Yes, sir, the Mis.»ouri Compromise, which isdesig- 
noted by the Senator from South Carolina as the great 
equilibrium-destroyer, has been lauded in our pres- 
ence as a measure of [leace and concord, and as one 
that the South is willing to take and abide by now. 
Yes, sir, this measure, which Southern gentlemen 
now express their readiness to receive and abide by, 
the Senator from South Carolina puts second in his 
list of the measures which luivc destroyed the tqui- 
librium and produced discontent in the South ! 

Well, sir, the third measure of which the Senator 
speaks as dcstrtiying the equilibrium between the 
sections, and producing this great discontent in 
the South, is the Oregon bill ! If this be so, it must, 
indeed, have had a wonderfully raidd influence, for it 
was only passed in .■\iigu.';t, 154S, has been but about 
a year and a half in opi ration, and, indeed, 1 do not 
know v^•hether any despatches have been received 
by this Government, informing us of the organiza- 
tion of the Government instituted ot that time; if 
they have been, thev have not been laid before Con- 
gress Is it possible, then — can the Senator from 
.South Carolina be serious, when he mentions the 
Oregon bill as one of the three measures of the Gov- 
ernment which have produced such universal dis- 
content at the .South that tlie'v can no longer remain 
In the Union 7 What possible Inlluence can the 
Oregon bill have hod on the South within the brief 
time that has transpired since its passage 7 I will 
not spend more time on this subject. The charge is 
jireposteroiis. 

I have another document to which I will here 
refer, as it shows that there was discontent and talk 
of disunion in the South long before this Oregon bill 
was thought of. The Senotor from South Carolina 
speaks of the abolition fanatics in 1835, (which is 
the (line, as he says, they commencL>d their opera- 
lions.) us being small and cciniemptihie, and as- 
having no sort ef inrtut nee ond consideration. .Now^ 
what was the d«ilaratlon of the Senator in 1835, 
the very lime when he states this faction was so 
smnll and contemptible 7 In Niles's Register of 
l-:i"i, r.tih vol.. 4'.>ih page, is an extract of a letter 
from John C. <Jalhoun to the editor of the Wush- 
Ingion 'I'tltgraph. Ho says : 

" S;nee ynu panned through the South, the cxritemcDt in 



5 



•relation to the Norlherii funnticfl has very siredtly increusivl. 
The iniiications are, that the South wiUbe unanimoii^i in 
tlieir resiKt^mce, and that their resistance will be of ilie 
ny>Hi (i.'ti-rniin-(l character, even to the extent ol" disutiiut:, 
.it that stiouM be necens.iry to arrest the evil. 1 inirtl, how- 
ever, it nviy be arrested far short ofsnoh extremity.'' 

From this it appears that as loni^ ago as 1335, the 
South— all the South he spt-ak.s for— had come to 
sucli a unaniiiioiis d'.'terniination to ri'si*! the IVorth- 
era fanatics, iliat, ii tlioy c-oulJ not put them down 
in any other way, they were ready to dissolve the 
Union. " Small and cnntempiilile as this faction 
then was," to use the lani;urit;(} of the Senator from 
South Carolina, it was polent enouijh, it seiMns, to 
work up the whole South lo a determination to dis- 
solve the Union if they were not put down. 

I wish to call the attention of the Senate to an- 
other view of this question of the ei-itiilibrhnn. The 
Senator from Georgia, [Air. IJerrie.s. ] in his speech 
the other day, puts this siirnifieanf question to Sen- 
ators from the Northern State's. He says : 

'■ Now, sir, revert to the period vvlien tins Constitutiou 
was entered into — when thirteen Confederated States, 
loosely connecteil together, inutnally Kr^sping hamls, drew 
more closely the bond of union; and now tell uie, do you 
'believe, does any man believe, that It consists with the sjiirit 
.and intention of the framers of that instrument, witli the 
feeii nj: I )f t h -.It monien t, that you should circ\ini scribe slavery 
■within limits within which, in process if lime, it could no 
longer exist ! That were to deny to us the privilene of ex- 
ereisin'j; the rights with which we came into the Constitu- 
tion, in the manner in which we had exercised and were 
ex.?rci6inf; them when the Constitution was lormed. It 
•would be in etl'ect to say to us, We will allow you to hold 
slaves, if you will keep them witlun your present limits ; 
but in the future acijuisitions which we make of territories, 
by our joint and equal etTorts, even ot such as are titled to 
your own peculiar kind of labor, hands (i/f— slavery shall 
never be extended with our consent ; the banner of this free 
Republic shall never wave overanotherslave State, whether 
it were originally fp:'e or slave. Ifthis proposition had been 
made to our fathers in that Convention, what think you 
■would have been their answer ? I will not trust myself to 
express it. Do you believe that this Constilutiou would 
have been formed under such circumstances? " 

Now, sir, it seems to me that an all sufficient 
answer to this question is to be found in the fact 
that the Constitution was formed under precisely 
the circumstances on which he speculates. Under 
what circumstances was the Constitution formed, 
sir? Why, every inch of territory which the States 
then owned was subject to this very prohibi- 
tion ! Every inch of territory by that provision of 
the Continental Congress, ratified by the first Con- 
gress under the Federal Constitution, was subjected 
to the inhibition of slavery, and was carved out to 
be admitted into the Union as five free States. The 
Senator's question, therefore, has a historical answer. 
They not only would have entered the Confedera- 
tion with such a proliibition, but they actually did 
enter it under just such a state of facts as the ques- 
tion presupposes. So much for the " equilibrium " 
in this point of view. 

In another part of his speech the Senator from 
South Carolina says, that, next after the Ordinance 
of 1787, the Missouri (IJomprom se, and the Oregon 
bill, among the causes which have produced discon- 
tent at the South is the system of revenue and dis- 
bursements adopted by the Government. He says : 

" The next is the system of revenue and disbursements 
swhich has been adopted by the (Jovernment. It is well 
known that the Government lias deriveditsrevenue mainly 
from duties on imports. I shall not undertake to show that 
such duties must necessarily fall mainly on the exportinir 
■States, and that the S^uth, as the great exporting portion of 
the Union, has in reality paid v<astly more than her due 
proportion of the revenue ; because I deem it unnecessary, 
.as the subject has on so many occasions been fully discuss- 
ed. Nor shall I, for the same reason, luidertake to show- 
that a f-irgreater portion of the revenue has been fli.sb\irsed 
at the North than its due share ; and that the joint effect of 
ttiese causes has been to transfer a vast amount from South 
to North, which, under an equal system of revenue ami 
disbursements, would not have been lij.St to her. If to this 
be added, that many of the duties were imposed, not for 
revenue, but for protection — that is, intended to put money, 
siet in the treasui-y, but directly into the pocket of the man- 



ufaclurerB— .some conception may be formed ofilie immense 
amiiunt wliicli. In the long course of sixty yearr, has been 
transferreil from South to North. There are no data by 
which it can be eistimaled with aiiv certainty ; but it in sate 
to say llmt it amounts lo hundre<fd of millions of dollars. 
Umlerllie mogl modemte eKiimnle. it wo^jld be NUtlirleiUtu 
add greatly to the wealth of the North, and Ihui< greatly in- 
crease her population, by attracting emigration from all 
(juiirterH to that section. 

"This, combined witti the great and primary cause, amply 
explains why the N.irth has HC(|uired a preponderance over 
every deparlnient nf the (jovernment, by its aiiipropurliou- 
ate increase of po|)iilalion ami States." 

I think it well for the Senator that he did not un- 
dertake to show that, for he knows that the duties 
fall upon and are paid by the consumirs, be they 
where they may. A State, therefore, which has a 
population ten times yreaier than that of another 
State, and consumes imports in that proportion, 
pays ten timis more revenue. No matter where 
the imports go, those who consume them pay 
the duties upon them. Go into the manufacturing 
towns and villages, where they cc^nsiimu a large 
amount of sugar and other dutiable articles, do they 
not pay the duty on their importation? .-Vnd is not 
the fact true always, that it is the consumer, wher- 
ever he may be, who pays the duty 7 Sir, the fact is 
undeniahK;. 

The Senator undertakes to show that by far the 
greater portion of our revenue has been disbursed at 
the North, or more than its due sliare. Now, sir, 
that struck me as the most bold assertion in the 
whole speech. Is all hi«tory, sir, to be set at nau£ht 
ill this matter? The disbiirsements greater at the 
North than in the South ! Why, sir, in the State in 
which I live, aside from the e,\penses of collecting 
^e revenue, not .3-50,000 of the public money has 
ften spent in fifty years. No, sir, the expenditures 
of the Government are not made there ; the ofHcers 
of the Government do not come from the North, nor 
are the great contracts made there. What is it that 
consumes one-half, aye, three-fourths, of your reve- 
nue, but the army and the navy, and where is it ex- 
pended ? ^Vhy. where your Indian wars occur, 
your Seminole and Creek wars — in the Southern, and 
not in the I^orthern i)orlion of these Slates. Why, 
sir, the idea that an undue proportion of the money 
collected by the General Government has been dis- 
bursed in the Northern States, is, to say the least, 
one in as direct opposition to the truth of history as 
any statement which could possibly be made. A 
friend has collected for me some statistics showing 
the expenditures of the Government, one item of 
which I will refer to, which is well calculated to 
show the proportion between the free and the slave 
States. By t!ie returns of the Post Odjne Depart- 
ment for the year 1S47, it appears that there was col- 
lected in the fifteen fre^ States, by way* of postage, a 
sum exceeding the expenses of the Department in 
these States for that year by $576,000, while there 
was a deficiency to the same amount in the slave 
States. Thus there was a direct tax collected in 
small sums from the North, to the amount of over 
8500,000 in one year, for that single Department ot 
Government ; and I apprehend that if the other De- 
partments were e.xamined, it would be found that 
the Post Office was in fact the one under which the 
North suffered least. Why, in our little State of 
New Hampshire, there is a direct lax for postage to 
the amount of over .815,000. The revenue collected 
there for postage in that year was -$40,630, and the 
expenditures .$25,500, leaving us with a direct tax of 
.$15,130 for that year! And, sir, it cannot be said 
that these letters were received from commercial 
correspondents, because we have no great commer- 
cial emporium in the State. No, sir, this tax is col- 
lected from those manufacturing operatives of whom 
mention is sometimes made here. It is a tax on the 
afr.'cticns of the human heart, on filial love and rev- 
erence, on correspondence with parents, children, 
and friends, and it is collected from the hard-work- 
ing men and women ol the North, for the support of 
this Government. Yet we do not complain of it ; 



but in the face of all this it is rathfr hard to be told 
that our prosperity is nil owing to the undue amount 
of Governnieni expcnJiiuris made in the Northern 
Staie«. NVhy, sir, it wuu'd be u curiusiiy in ihepurt 
of the country in which I live lu hear ol the expend- 
iture among them of a dojiur of the money of the 
General 0>iverniiient, over and above just what is 
necessary to collect the revenue to be spent tlse- 
where. So much for this subject. 

At.'uin, says the Senator from South Carolina : 

•• li'.oiliinl.cB.l.lril.lhiil m.iiiy I'ftlif (liilifK w<-rr imiiuHfil, 
not lor rt'\riiu' . tmi I tr pruimluii— Hint m, iiilriuird lu (nK 
moiiry. I ••ury, tut ilim-ily iiiiu the piv kt-i of 

the OKI ine cuu<°cpli»ii nmy lie luiiiinl nl' 

tlie iiniii wliioli, m llir liUg rourKO of nixly 

yt . :• iTrd Ironi S<iiilli to Nurlli. Tli<-i'e 

«!' itn b^ «i>liniiilr<l Willi any rrniiliily, 

t'li^ v! It omouiilK lu huiiilrrilH iif ntillloi'iH 

ol'lull.irs I II I'l '■■■■■ inoBi mtMlrrnlr rMiindIr, it wuuM Ije 
•UfficitUt to a<lil Kl'rut'y to the wraldi uf the Nurlli. nilil 
ihu« rresily iucrr.ihe lir'r populaiioii l>y aiintciiiiK cniigru- 
lion wni all ipiarltrii to lliat (■i-clitni." 

Now sir, let us exannne this point. It is the 
tarifT, tlien, that has done injury to the South, and 
produced discontent there. Now, I have been at 
some little pains to examine the history of the vari- 
ous tariir:!, and our revenue policy, and I find that 
the first tarifl act was passed on the Jih o( July, 
1769. and the preamble to it is in the following 
words : 

•' WlirrMS it is necessary, f»rthe Bunport of Government, 
for llic JiKclianje «f the debts of llie IJiiitcd Slates, and fur 
ikr cneouragrmfrnt and protection of manufurliirrs, tliat 
duties t>e liiid on goods, wares, aud'mereliandise, import- 
ed " 

The yeas and nays were not taken on the hill in 
either House. The next year the duties were lar*|- 
ly increased, and I think in some instances that thry 
were doubled, and the bill for that purpo.se passed 
the House of Representatives, yeas 40, nays 1' ; and 
ai a curiosity I will read the votes of the States on 
that measure : 

Yeaa. Sai/i. Ytas. Naiju. 

Ntw Hampshire 2 1 Dt4aware 1 

Massachu.-x-tts R Maryland « 3 2 

C'Tonecticul 3 2 Viru'iiiia # •' 7 

New York 4 1 Nonli Carolina 5 

New Jers y 2 S<iulli Carolina .3 1 

Pennnylvauia 7 U tieor^ia 3 

40 15 

The tarjfl", remained suhsiantially as it was estab- 
lished by \he act of 1790- with the exception of the 
acts passed during the war, which were considered 
as war measures— until 1516. 1 have not fjot iho 
precise date when that net was approved, but 1 think 
It wan inVi)ril, 151G. Then the war was over, and 
it became nv'i.8.''ary to abandon the war acts passed 
during its [iroi^ocution, and to .«cttle down on some- 
thint: like a permanent policy, and a tarili act was 
passed. It passed the House of RepreHcnlatives, 
yeas SS, nays 54 ; and as the yeas and nays upon it 
are somewhat interesting, I will read them by .States : 
y*a». Saiji. 1>nj». \at/n. 

N'w llimpghire 1 3 Maryland 2 !> 

MoMMrliunrita 7 4 Virginia 7 13 

KUodr lalaad J North Carolina (I 11 

Connfciirui 'i 2 South Caroliua 4 3 

Vcmiout 5 1 (Jeorgiii 3 3 

Nfw York 20 2 Ki-niu'lir '■ 1 

Nrw Jrffc'y 5 (I TrnnrMre •-' 

PfBDnylvaJil* 17 3 Ohio o 

Dclawar- ■' ■' ""' v. '»■ Louiwiana " 1 

fA M 
And a>-i in- in- yeas on the passage of that bill 
HtsndH re. 'irdrd the name cf John C ("ai.m(il'.n. one 
of Ih'' Iti-iiriK/^niaiivos from South Carolina. That 
was In I'-M'i. The inrlli' poliey of the country con- 
tlnurd without material alteratiun until IH'24, when 
another hill on the Hubjeet pasiM-d the House, yeas 
107, nnjr» \Vi. South t^arolina then chanu<d front 
00 the question. Hut 1 wiHh to rail the attention of 
Ibc Scns'.i to the vote uf New F.ngland on the sub- 



ject, because she has been considered the greatest 
sinner in regard to it. Her vote on the tariff was 
yeas 15, nayi> 23, as follows : 

Yea-i. Xai/s. Yfas. .Voi/s, 
M.iliif 1 6 (,'onnecticut n 1 

Nrw Uampi-iiire 1 •'> Ri.ode Island 2 

M.iiuat'liukciiK 1 11 Vcrinoiit 5 

15 23 

And such had been the uniform |io!icv of that 
portion of ihe country. But the histoiv of the tariff 
acts that have been passed show that the Northern 
States have ^jenerally objected to them, and that too 
against the power and the elotjuence t>f the Senator 
from South Carolina, in ISlti, in the House. And 
when this policy was forced un New Eni-land, and 
forced on her too by .Southern votes, against her own 
wishes, then, sir, the genius, the enterprise, and the 
industry of her people began to accoimiiodate them- 
selves to that state of thini^s, and because she flour- 
ished under it, it is made a charce aijainst her, and 
form.s the next point in the indictment agaim^t the 
North for disturbing the equiUbrium between the 
sections. 

Another evil of which the Senator from South 
Carolina complains, is as follows, to use his own 
language : 

" lliil while these meaKures were destroyinir the equilib- 
rium between liie iwo secllong, the MClion of the Govern- 
meni whs leading lo a radii'al chaiiK« in iib character, by 
conceiitrdtiiit: all the power of the system iu itself. The 
occasion will not pernill Die to trace the measures by 
which Ihisgreul chani^e has been cuiiEumm.'tted. If it did, 
it would not be ditKcult lofliow that tlieprocesscommenced 
at an earlv period of the Government ; that II proceeded, 
almost witfioiii interruption, step by step, until it absorbed 
virtually its entire powers; but without goin? through the 
whole priKess lo establish the fact, it may be dune satisfac- 
torily by a very short statement. 

"That the Government claims, and practically maintains 
the right to decide in the last resort, as to Ihe extent of its 
powers, will scarcely be denied by any one conversant 
with the political history of the country. That it also 
claims the right t" resort to force lo maintain whatever 
power sheclaimsagainst aIlo[ipo8ition, is eipially certain." 

His charge is, that this Government has changed 
gradually fiOm a federal republic to a consolidafed de- 
mocracy. Who hasdone it 7 From the very adop- 
tion of the Constitution down to the present time, 
what counsels have prevailed I Northern or South- 
ern ] Who have been the Presidents of the United 
States? Northern men or Southern men ? Again, 
with reference to the action of the Supreme Court, 
who have been on the bench of that court? His- 
tory will show that there has been no time when 
you would trust Northern men there, so as lo consti- 
tute a majority. Tluui<rh a man may have crept to 
the foot of power in the most abject manner, the 
North could ncviT 1) .' trusted .«o far as to have her 
citizens constitute a majority on the bench of that 
court. There has always been a majority of South- 
ern nun on that bench; and I say, sir, that the South 
has always controlled the policy of this Governinenf. 
I think till- honorable .Senator from Kentucky was 
magnanimous enoujih the other day, in his speech, to 
acknowledge this. Not only the legislative but iho 
judicial power hasalwuys been in the hands of the 
South. If the (|U(Htion was asked to dav, of the 
most ordinary or the most astute observer of passing 
events, who it is of ;il| men that has had tln' most 
to do to ronirni nm| stmpe the pulley of this Govern- 
ment, and iiiaki' it what it i,i, the aiiswtr would be 
that it is the honorable Senator from Sotith Carolina, 
(.Mr. Caliiocn,) who makes this charge. Did he 
not ii II us, with the m.idcBty which always belongs to 
him, and with the honesty and truth whl< h charac- 
terize him, that he more than any other m:in eflicte^l 
theaeiiuisiiionofTexaslo this country .' He was then 
a privaii' < itizen. If he could, in perfect consistency 
with hi.iiorieal truth, say that he more than any one 
else efle( ted that cr<at act, by which that country was 
annexed and made a part and parcel of our own 
what must have been his influence while he or«u- 



pied a seal in the oilier House in the pride of his 
power, or when for eight years he was at the head 
of the Department of War, and for six years filled 
the chair which you now occupy, if he eoiild thus 
control public pulicy in hi:^ reiircnicnt ? Ni, sir, 
great and comuiandiri'' as has been the inlhience of 
other gentlemen in the eonncils of this nation, if 
there be any one man who has stamped upon its 
character and features the im[iress o( his thoughts 
and purposes, that man is the honorable Senator 
from South Carolina, who addressed the Senate the 
other day on this subject. Hut now he comes in and 
files a bill o{ indictment against the North for doing 
that which all along they have resisted and remon- 
strated against. 

The next |)art of the speech to which I wish to 
direct attention is the assertion that — 

" Nevertlieless, as small ami contemptible as the jiarly 
then was, both of the {;reut parlies of the North drcaileil 
them. They felt tliiit, though sni ill, lliey were orjjiinizcd 
in reference to a. suhject wliioh had a greut anil command- 
ing intUience over the Noriht-rn mind. Each i)arly,i)n that 
account, feared to oppose tlieir iietitons, lest theopjiosite 
party should take advantage of the one who miurht do so, 
by favoring' their petitions. The elTecl was that both iniikd 
in insistinji that tlie petitions should be received, and that 
Congress should take jurisdiction of the subject lur which 
they prayed." 

And speaking on the subject in another part of the 
speech, on the 8th page, he says : 

" And (^oaeress is invoked to do all this expressly with 
the view to tlie final abolition of slavery in the S'ates. 
That has been avowed to be the ultimate object from the 
beginning of the iigilation until tlie present time; and yet 
the great body of both parties of the North, with the lull 
knowledge ot^ the fact, although disavowing the abolition- 
ists, have co-operated with them in almost all their meas- 
ures." 

If I understand this, sir, it is a distinct avowal 
that the abolition movement has been received with 
public favor from the commencement, by both 
parties, in both Houses of Congress, from the North, 
and at home. 1 undertake to say th;« a declaration 
more at war with the truth of history could not possi- 
bly be affirmed in language. The Abolitionists, instead 
of being received with public favor at the Not th, by 
either party, have been denounced in every possible 
form in which language could denounce them. 
The meetings which they have holden in public places 
have been broken in upon by lawless mobs. They 
have been driven from the phces where they had 
assembled for the e.xercise of a constitutional right, 
and to such an extent had this spirit progressed, that 
the buildings in which they had assembled, and had 
been peaceably exercising the rights of citizens, 
under the Constitution, have been, in at least one 
instance, burnt to the ground by a mob. I don't 
refer to these matters for the purpose of re-oponing 
any wounds that may have been healed up by the 
soothing influence of time, but I do contend that, if 
the Senate means to do justice, and the country 
means to do justice, it is necessary and right that 
the truth upon this subject should be made known. 

Sir, there never has been a sect that has arisen 
since the Christian era, that has been met at every 
turn, on every hand, on every side, and by all parties, 
with more bitter, violent, unrelenting persecution, 
than these same Abolitionists have been. Instead of 
growing up by the public favor of the North, they 
have grown up in spite of the most determined 
opposition. Thev have lived upon persecution ; per- 
secution and denunciation have been everything 
which they have had. And, sir, to show tliat upon 
this matter I do not speak without book, I will reter 
in the first place, to the proceedings of Congress on 
this subject. I will show how far it is true, in refer- 
ence to the House of Representatives, that both par- 
ties from the North have united in receiving their 
petitions and taking jurisdiction of the subject. 
The year 1835 is the lime which is assigned as the 
commencement of this agiration ; the time at which 
both parties at the North united in giving them pub- 
lic favor ; the time at which both parties in Congress 



united in insisting that Congress should take juris" 
diction of the suoject, and that the petitions of the 
.Abolitionists should be received. It will be found, 
sir, that in ihe House of Representatives, on the Stli 
day of February, 18 ]6, Mr. Pinckney Introduced the 
following resijlution : 

^^ JtiHolreU, That all ilic memorials which have been 
offired, or may hereafter be prcm-nted to iIiIh IIoUHe, [iray- 
Ing tor the abolition of Hlavery in the DiBtrict of Columbia, 
anil alh'o the reKohilionH otTered by an honorable member 
from Maine, (Mr. .larvis.; with the um'^ndnienl thereto 
iiroposed by an honaralile memlxT from Virginia, (Mr. 
VVise,) together with every other paper or proposition that 
may be submitted in relation to the subject, tie referred to 
a select committee, with liiKtructionH to report : 

" That Congress possesBes no constitutional authority to 
interfere in any way with the institution of blavery in any 
of the States of this Confederacy ; and 

''That, in the opinion of this Ilouse, Congress ought not 
to interfere in any way with slavery in the District of Co- 
lumbia, because it would be a violation of the public faith, 
unwise, impolitic, and dangerous to the Union — assigning 
such reasons for these conclusions aw, in the judgment of 
the commiUee, may be best calculated to enlighten the pub- 
lic mind, to allay excitement, to repress agitation to secure 
anil maintain the just rights of Ihe slaveholding Slates and 
of the people of this District, and to restore harmony and 
traiiipiilliiy ameng.^t the various sections of this Union." 

That resolution passed the House by a vote of 
yeas IfJ7, nays only t). That committee reported, 
and they reported three resolutions : 

1. '■'■ Rpsolvi'.d, That Congress possesses no constitutional 
authorily to interfere, in any way, with the institution of 
slavery in any of the States of this Confederacy. 

2, '■'■iicsulveU, Thai Congress ought not to interfere, in any 
way, with slavery in the District of Columbia. 

"And whereas it is extremely important and desirable 
that the agitation of this suhjei-t should be finally arrested, 
for the purpose of restoring Iranquillity to Ihe public mind, 
your committee respectfully recommend the adojition of 
the following resolution, viz : 

:i. '• Renulved, Ttiat all petitions, memorials, repolution.s, 
propositions, or papers, relating in any way or to any extent 
whatever to the subject of slavery, or the abolition of sla- 
very, shall, without being either printed or referred, be laid 
upon the table, and that no further action whatever shall 
be had thereon." 

1. I'assed : Yeas lft2, nays 9. 

2. Passed: Yeas i:«, nays 4.i. 

3. Passetil : Yeas 1 17, nays t)8, 

2(1 session, 2Ath Congress, page 257, 

January 18, 1837. 
^'Resolved, That all petitions, memorials, resolutions, 
propositions, or papers, relating in any way, or to any extent 
whatever, to the subject of slavery, or to the abolition of 
slavery, shall, without being printed or referred, be laid 
upon the table, and that no further action shall be had 
thereon." 

Passed : Yeas 129, nays tJ9. 
Mr. Pulton's Journal H. R-, 2d session, 25th Cone., p. IZT. 
December 21, 1S37. 
'■^ Rnsolveil, That all petitions, memorials, and papers, 
touching the abolition of slavery, or the buying, selling, or 
transferring of slaves, in any Slate, District, or Territory of 
the United States, be laid upon the table, without being de- 
bated, printed, read, or referred, and that no further action, 
shall be had Ihereon." 

Passed : Yeas 122, nays 74, 

3</ si'ssion, \S>th Congress, page 51, 

Dbcbmbbr 11, 1R3^. 

1. '^ Resolved. That this Government is a Government of 
limited powers; and that, by the Constitution of the United 
States, Congress has no jurisdiction whatever over the in- 
stitution of slavery in the several States of the Confederacy. 

2. ^' Resolved, That petitions for the abolition of slavery 
in the District of Columbia and the Territories of the 
United States, and against the removal of slaves from one 
State to auothur, are a jiart of the plan of operations set on 
foot to affect the institution of slavery in the several States, 
and thus indirectly to destroy that institution within their 
limits. 

'.',. " Resolved, That Congress has no right to do that in- 
directly which it cannot do directly ; and lliat the agitation 
of Ihe subject of slavery in the District of C lurabia or the 
Territories, as a means and with a view of dislurbing or 
overthrowing that institution in the several States, is 
against the true spirit and meaning of the Constiuuion, an 
inliiiigementof the right of the States atTected, and a breach 
of the public faith ou which they entered into this Confed- 
eracy. 

4. "Resolved, That Ihe Constitution rests upon the broad 
principle of equality among the members of this Confed- 



»r>rv (ii"t 0(«l roopreaa, in (he exercise of ii« acknowl- 
^* luoiher, Willi 

ic ollirr 

. . , . on il.c part 

ti iiir DiBiiiii •'< ('oltinibia 

ihr rrmuvHl iil^!avr8 IrDiii 

■ t^riwrcu llir iniiliiulions ol 

ly aii<l Mfiottier, Willi liie vifwn 

I i<r (tie runHlllulK'ii. >lrslnic(ivr 

. 'r< ,.|| \s hi. 1. ih. 1 I.,. I, ,.f ih<'in' 
' s<: liOil 



IfUI 

5 
uf I 

i.r I 



(hi: 
l«P 



!un. or 
\ <rj|(«n( 

I, I'l II, c i\L"' .'I'll llifrriif, 
r. wrillioul miy ('iinlier ar. 
tile, WlllliiUI hrllliiilfbillril, 



Y<as I7lt. navu^ii. 
YfiiH I'VI. luiys 'M>. 
Yi'iiii l'^, iiaj 8 OC'. 
Ypiiii IT-l.iiayn'JO. 
Ycnti 110, nays ')'2. 
Yeas l'.i^, n«v6 T^i. 



(lull ' 

prin(eU, or cell IT'- u.' 

1. Paiseil: Yra« 1!»5, (iay»6 

'i. I*»**"l \' '" 1 '•»• "«^'* ' 

l«( mrni' 

IM m'-iii' 

l(it ni- Ml' 

ai !■ 

1>- : 

Jaumai il. R-, !«.' Kttiui^ Jblh Cong.. jHigr 2i4 

Ja.ni'arv 2S, ISAO. 

"No pedlion, memorial, resoliitinii, or nihtr piip<>r. 
i>n*in« (lie abi>litloii of slavery in (lie Dirtrict of Co- 
Itim^ia. or anv Sta(e or Trrriiory, or (lie «liive (nule be- 
iwren (lie S'.a!rb or Terri(ori»8 ot the llnilid S(a(e8 in 
wliirh il now rxiuJs, shall be receiveJby Ihiti lloute. or en- 
lenaiunl iuany way whilivcr." 

Rule ad pled : Y'eas lU, navB lOf. 

That is (ho action of the House ; the nciion of the 
Senate has het-n, if possible, more deciiicd, because 
thtv have uniformly refused to receive petitions ad- 
tlrcsse^l to ihtiii upon this subject to this day. 

In Januar>*, 1>3S, the .Senate, on iimtion of the 
Senatorfrom .South Carolina, J Mr. C.^lhoi-n.] passed 
fieveral verv strinfrent resolutions aijainst the ntove- 
menls of the Abolitionists, one only of which I will 
read to the Senate, as a fair specimen of the whole : 

•• Retytlr'il. T. .'. Ms (JoveriinK'nt was iiis(i(utetl and 
ailopled b^ ■ - iti-s of this I'nion ay a comrri'jn 

agent inc lo elTecl the powrrs which iliey 

(Wejtaled t . ion for Ihtir muliial security ami 

proi.|>erily ; ::: I t I . .11 UiKilnieut of this Inch ani' Bacrnl 
iruiii, (hi« (Joverumeiit ii> bomul ko to exercise its power as 
to give, aji firris m '.V h'' pr.vllcable. increa.-ied slabilily and 
jieturuy (o ■ .iibtilulioiis of the Statet-' (hat corn- 

pone the r. t is the solemn duly of the Gov- 

erument l-i ■ nipig by I'ne porlion of the Union 

to u»e It Bii 111 j.-'r .;i\' 111 toailaik the .lomislic inslilu- 
lion«ol auulher. or :o we^ikeii orde8(roy tiiich iiistitiuioiis." 

Such, sir, was the manner in which both parties 
united, in the language of the Senator from South 
Carolina, " in insisting that the petitions should be 
received, and that Congress should take jurisdiction 
of the subject for which they prayed." 

Now, sir, I want to call the attention of the Sen- 
ate to the tnanner in which this movement was re- 
ceived by the people at the North. I liav.', at some 
trouble, iooked up the necessary doruir.ents. to show 
how they were received by the people at large. 

" M- ■ ! 111.'" 'f ihe people have been belli in i|i-arly all ol 
Uie ■ i I towiiB in 111'- Northern Slii'H. at which 

t'le I I I he aboh(ioniii(i4 were rejecled ami di8a- 

rnv.' r unanimity and much zeal "— .Vi7e*'« 

JUk"'- . "■■■ '"' :'., ifvCi. 

Them; meetings, as will be w>en by the papers of 
the day, were hwlden at New Vork, Fiosion, Albanv, 
and th'- other principal plans in the free States. f)f 
the rli'i-ictt-r of 'he re-iobiiions passed ut .Mbanv, 

th' i; i: 

' ' we hull wllh deliffhl (h«! 

m*-" my ; Ihey are lip toihe huh: 

the righlH and H^iitlnientHiif 
I nil the ni'luphyioci' and 
"t New York ; Ihey are flee 
.1 1 iiuiTiM-alloii ; no "Me drnniii I- 
ry, no pumpoiia afM-rliolia of ilie 
' ' V .1111. "iill' •' III till llli'il llllipilll. 

iieloneB, 
III! ■ ''■': ih' y 

ikli' - which, 

ffoui t!.' If verjf iiiliire, are ' 4l' ii^J'.rJ l.j iiill nil': the pub- 



(hey ail .;i J.. I ;. 

lhe'S»iilli ; Kirv 

abatrai 'i"ii> . i '' 

rroni 

ali'.i 

rl«r/. 



lie mind, and pu( in jeopardy the lives and properly of their 
frllow-citiren*. as at war with every rul. ol moral duty 
and every su«*'«'lion of humanity ; and they reprobate the 
iiuen.liarieK who will persist in carrying them on as dis- 
loyal to the riiioii." 

1 will not wearv the Senate by readin" reports of 
such meeiinsis liulden in the principal cities and 
towns of the North. The papers of that day con- 
tain abundant evidence to satisfy the most incredu- 
lous. Hut all this did not satisfy the South; they 
demanded that the Abolitioni.-=is should be put down 
by l,iw in the free States. The (new.-paper) South- 
ern Patriot said : 

"Let the declaration lliat discussions which from their 
nature lend to inllame the public mind and pul in jeopardy 
(he lives and properly of our fellow-citizens, and are at 
war with every rule of moral duty and every suases-lioii 
of liunMiiily, be onlv embodied in some legislative act, 
Wllh approp'ruie peiiallieii, and the South seeks no higher 
an<l heller Btcurity." 

A city tneeting at New Haven, Connecticut, was 
held September 10, 1^31, called by Dennis Kimber- 
ly. Mayor of New Haven, to consider a plan for 
the establishment in that city of a college for the 
education of colored youths; at which meeting it 
was — 

'• Rtsulrrd III! llie Mayor, AMfrnifn, Common Council, 
anil frermrn of th' riiy if Sur Ilaren. in city merlin as 
sem'jtfil. Thai we will reslsi the esiablishmeui of the pro- 
posed collece in lhi.'» place by every lawful means. 

'•Marrfi, ISIt— Town meeling at Canterbury. Connecti- 
cut, in reference to .Miss Crandall's school for females of 
color. Kesolutions were passed expressing: the most decid- 
ed delerinination that the school should not be established 
in thai town. 

"./V/oi/24, l.S:n.— Act passed by the Legislature of Con- 
necticut prohibiting schools (or colored persons from other 
States. (In lH3o, a petition to the Legislature for the repeal 
of this act was rejt-cled.) 

" JuHe'i7. l>t£t --MissCrandall was imprisoned in Brook- 
lyn, Connecticut, on the charge of having taught persons 
o'f color from out of the Stale. 

'• S'fittiiJiiT 'A\ I'it!.— An assault was made on Miss 
Craiiddll's house, while a clergyman was holding a reli- 
gious meeting there. Rotten eggs and otiier missiles were 
thrown at the wini'ows. 

"The we!l of the house on ano'her occasion was filled 
with olTal, &c. 

" A newspaper in Connecticut says: 'The committee of 
the First EoclesiaBlical Society in Canterbury have seen 
proper lo prohibit llie scholars of Miss Crandall's school 
from attending Divine worship in the meetin;-house on 
Caniiroury green.' " 

There was no other meeting-house within three 
miles. 

'• May '27. —The Mayor and Aldermen of Boston rejected 
an appfication of V25 citizens for the use of FaneuilHall, 
for the purpose of holding a meeting in which to plead the 
Cause of the slaves. 

^' .iiif;ii>il 10. l.'s:j.V— Canaan Acaiiemy, New Ilampshire, 
was drawn otfby a mob, for the crime of admittiugco.ored 
Youths. 

•• Augujit 111, ISl'i— Dislurbaiire at Worcester, .Massa- 
chiiseils. While the Kev, Orange Scott was lecturing on 
slavery, some indiviiluals loie up the lecturer's notes, and 
offered violeiic- to his person. 

•• .Vr/i'fHi/i>r 17, IKt.).— A gallows was erected in front 
ol .Mr (iarrison's, in liriuhlon street, liostoD, with this in- 
Hcriptioii : ' lly or er of Judge Lynch.' 

'•JuJyA. 'J. 10. and 11, KT>, (he Abolitionists were ninbbe'l 
in New York. Churches and stores were broken into and 
injured, and ihe dwelliiig-houbes of several Abolilioiusts 
v»rro molvhed. The furniliire of one was burnt in the 
sire'-t. The persons of Abolitionists were (hrealene.J. 
liolh political i'ar(ies joined in (he oulruge. 

" These niolis were iiisligali d by the (iress and pro sLi- 
very public im clings. The cli'rgy <lid not discountenance 
tlir priM-eidings tliat led lo lh'n>. Chancellor Walworth 
cUeni.) iiiul Chancellor Frelinghiiyseii (Whig) made 
Nltcechesat n piiblii: meeting agaiiiKl the Abolilionisis, and 
|H>pular c|eri:ynien ridiculed the Manalii-s ' 

•• Ihiring llie niolia, a whole ilivigion of troops was under 
arms. The mob riih'd ihe city for several days, and was 
Uiially diHiiers'd by the aiithorilieg acting efVici'ently. when 
It wnii iiiiilrrHlood ilint. (ired ol mobbing AholiiioniKls, the 
mob waaiuriiiiig Us attention to the Hanks in Wall street. 

"An Anil Sliivery (.'onveiition, hell at L'lica, New 
York, Oc.'obrr -M, Kl'i. in the Dapdat meeijng. house, was 
mobbed by Ihe iiti/.eiia of l'lica. heailed by a Comnutlee of 
iwenly (he, composed ofpromineiit niembersolboili politi- 
cal parties appoiniej at a meeliiiy held at tlie court-house. 



9 



" At a meeting In llie court liouse,aprominfnt inilividiial 
justifierl in express worils the gross violation ot' the law at 
•Char estoii, South Carolina. ' These occnsionn,' said he, 
' will tind a law tor ihvmselves. I go for revolution when 
it is necessary.' 

•• Adverting to the sending Abolition publications to the 
South, he remarked : ' If other means will not do, the m:iil 
aiiould be blocked up on thit subject.' 

"At a public meeting' of the citizens, a resolution was 
ptissed that the community trill not submit to Ihr indienity 
■of an Abolition a-nsemblage bting held in u jmblic builditi" 
in this city. ' 

"The mayor of the city, the first judi;e of the county, the 
•county clerk, tlie postmaster, the district clerk, anil other 
prominent citizens of both political parties, took part in tlie 
meeting, and most of them were of the committee of twen- 
ty-five, and the judsje, postmaster, &c., retained their ofti- 
•ces. While the Convention was in session, the chairman 
of the committee of twenty-five, followed by a mob of live 
hundred, entered the meeting house, interrupted the pro- 
ceedings, demanded that it should break up an<i disperse, 
■which was done. 

■'The Abolitionists went through the mud thirty miles 
to Peterborough, where they resumed business in the vil- 
lage church. 

"Octoifr 21, 183o.— The very day of the mob at Ulica, 
■New York, a mob of five thousand -gentleman of properly 
and standing' assembled in Washington street. Boston, in 
hroad daylight, which succeeded in demolishing signs, 
■■books, doors, &c., rtSspersing a Female Anti-Slavery Soci- 
ety, and attacking the editior of the Liberatw, Mr. Gar- 
rison." 

The Boston Al'as thus describes this mob : 
"He was found crouched under a pile of boards in a 
second story of a carpenter's shop, and here he surrendered 
at discretion. A rope was fastened under his arms and 
about his neck, and he was letdown, bv means of a ladder, 
to the ground; his countenance was pale and convnlseti 
■with terror, and he made no attemnt to speak or to resist. 
"There was a very general exclamation of -don't hurt him,' 
and two individuals seizing him on each side by the collar, 
he was conducteil through the lane into State street, and 
from thence hurried into the Mayor's ofiice in the City 
Hall." 

The Boston Gazette thus describes this mob : 
" We never before saw so gentlemanly a rabble, if rabble 
it may be called, as that assembled yesterday ; they opened 
to the right and left in tlie greatest possible order when a 
female attempted to pass in or out ; not only so, but when 
a procession often or a dozen black lodirs made known 
their wish to be admitted, the same was done for them, 
■without the slightest token of disapprobation being mani- 
fested. It ■was, in fact, a meeting of gentlemen of j/roperty 
•and standing from all parts of the city, who were disposed, 
and still are determined, at all hazards, and come what 
may, to preserve the peace of the city from all domestic 
incendiaries, as well as to protect the Union against foreign 
interference." 

In 1836, Elijah P. Lovejoy removed the St- Louis 
Observer to Alton, Illinois. Mr. L. discussed the 
•question of slavery. Meetings were held, and reso- 
lutions were passed, calling upon him to desist ; they 
forbade him to utter his sentiments on that subject 
in a?'t, mariner. Mr. Lovejoy refusing to recognise 
Ihe inquisitorial authority which l\is fellow-citizens 
had assumed, his press and type were destroyed by 
a lawless mob. Another press and type were pro- 
cured, which, on the day of its arrival at Alton, was 
forcibly taken from the warehouse in which it was 
placed by order of the Mayor, broken to pieces, 
and thrown into the Mississippi. The mayor ar- 
rived while the lawless work was going on, and or- 
dered them to disperse; they .'■epiied that they would 
■do so as soon as they got through. A few djys sub- 
sequent to this, Mr. Lovejoy was assailed by a mob, 
and rescued from their hands only by the heroic in- 
terference of his devoted wife. On every side, his 
ears were assailed by the most fiendish threats, and 
his steps •.-.'ere dogged by remorseless foes, who had 
bound themselves under curses to take his life. His 
family was threatened, his house frequently assailed, 
and night after night his wile driven from a sick bed 
Into the garret, to save b.er life from the brickbats 
and from the violence of the mob. Three presses 
had been destroyed, and a fourth was procured, 
which, under the superintendence of the mayor, 
•was stored away in a warehouse on the 7th of No- 
vember, 1837. In the evening, the warehouse was 



stormed with stones, iiistols, and muskets, windows 
were broken in, and the building was fired. Among 
tho.ae of the defenders who .sullied fortli to e.\tin- 
guish the flames was the lumented Lovejoy, who 
wns shot at by one of the rulFians, and deliberately 
murdered. To escape ilie devouring flHines, the rest 
of the dt fenders abandoned the building, and were 
fired upon us they tied. The press and type were 
thrown Into the river. 

In 1^36, the press of the Pliilanihropint was estab- 
lished at Cincinnati, with ji view to the promulga- 
tion of nnli-slavery sentiments. In January, an im- 
mense iweeiing of citizens of all parties was held at 
the court-house, over which the mayor presided. A 
committee was appointed of leading men of the 
city, to draught resolutions expressive of the sense 
of the meeting against the discussion of the slavery 
question. The rtsoluiions reported took the strong- 
est ground against the agitation of the subject of 
slavery in every form, denounced the .•Vboliilonisis, 
and c .lied u|)on the cilizi ns to exclude the Philan- 
thropi-it, the Abolition organ, from their houscH. In 
.luly of the same year, a mob, headed by young men 
beloniring to the wealthy families, at midnight broke 
into the priming office of the Pliilanthropist. and 
destroyed its press. A new one was forthwith set 
up. Another mob, a few weeks later, encouraged 
by the leading men of both parlies, assembled at 
sundown, broke into the .-Vnii-Slavery D<.pository, 
made a bonfire of its publications, broke into tlie 
printing office, pulled down the press, dragged it to 
the Ohio river, and threw it in ; after which, it in- 
slituted a search for several prominent Abolitionists, 
for the purpose of tarring and feathering them. The 
press was re-established ; but in 18-10 another mob, 
which held possession of the city for three days, as- 
sailed the office, tore down two printing presses, 
dragged them in the face of the military through 
the main street to the river, in which they precipi- 
tated them. Against all this violence, and the hos- 
tile sentiment out of which it grew, the .-^nti-Sla- 
very men contended, until the public opinion of the 
city was changed, and the liberty of speech and of 
the press completely established; and there is now 
no larse city in the Union in which the Anti-.Sla- 
very sentiment is more decided and more control- 
linsr. 

These are but a few specimens, out of hundreds 
with which the records of that day are filled, of the 
manner in which Abolitionism was received by the 
Northern people. Every principle of law, and every 
safeguard of property, and every propriety of civil- 
ized society, were violated by both parties at the 
North to put down this movement. And, sir, they 
vied with each other to see who might go the far- 
thest ; and the men that said Ihe severest ihings, and 
who did the severest ihings against the Abolitionists, 
were those who supposed they were commending 
themselves most to public favor. And yet, sir, in the 
face of this undoubted history of the facts of the case, 
it is now asserted that they were received with favor 
by both parties at the North, and that both parties 
did their bidding. It has been charged against the 
Abolitionists, also, again and asr'iin, that throughout 
this riiovement they were sending emissaries to the 
South, preaching insurrection to the slaves. In 1S35, 
when this movement first started, it isdue in justice 
to the Abolitionists to say, that they disavowed it .n 
the most solemn manner, and have continued to dis- 
avow it from that day to Ihe present, although the 
assertion is repeated Jiere almost every time that any 
cenileman has occasion to speak upon this subject. 
The facts are, that from the time when this movement 
first had its origin at the North, down to the present 
time, these same .-\bolitionisis have disavowed any 
such intention. I read, sir, an extract from the 
authorized exposition of the views of that society, 
made in 1935, and signed by all their officers : 

■•In behalf of the American Anti-Slavery Society, we 
solicit the cindid attention of the public to the following 
declaration of our principles and objects : 



10 



" 1. We hold t)»»t CoDgress has i*o more right lo abolish 
aUvtrr In llie Soulhtru Statrs thaij in the French Wrst 
India iKlaniU. Of course we desire no uatiuntil lci;4i>laUoD 
on ihe aubjrct. 

'• .: \Vt ',..!! '.'iM --'ri^ery can onlv be law Tully abolished 

• hcveml ^alrB in winch il pre- 

' <>i any ullirr than nii>r:il iiidu- 

II :< tiii>-fiiiMiiuliuual. 

.^^iiiir i_ sinir ri^ht to nbol- 

u the l)lMri>': llmt the Slule (Juv- 

. .r lu their r- - . lictioiiii, and that It 

i> i:.- r 'luiy lu ellace to it>ui a i>K>t Irum the uatiunal 

earutchruii. 

"4 W- t>rli-ve ihiil American citizens have the right I" 

• ' :, tlicir iijiiuioiis of the Constitution, 

lis ul any and every Slate and iiiition 

. ; we mean never lohurrrnder the hhertv 

. . -, . > ,.. ,.. i,,r (.rriis, or ol conm-it-noe — blrK8iii^s whicti 

we i.jve innenieU Ironi nur lAtliTii, and which we Intend, 

k^ lAf ii» we are able, t<i tcalmmil uuinipdircd to ourchil- 

^nn 

•• 5 We have uniformly deprecated all forcilile atlemptrt, 

on the part ol the slavrg, to recover their liberty ; anil 

•k-rt- 1' II ..iir power to addreM them, we Would exhort 

rve a qiiirt and peacelul demeanor, and would 

ilial no inxurrcrtionary niovt-uieMts on tiieir 

,_ i' crive from us the slightest aid orcountenunce. 

■o VVi would deplore any servile insurrection, both on 
•ccouDt of the caUuiilirH w'hich would attend 11, and of 
Ihe uccaiiion it ought luniiBh of increased lieverity and 
oppreiwion. 

"7 We are charged with sending Incendiary publica- 
lioucto Uie S<iulli. If by Ihe term Incendiary is meant 
publications containing arguments and lacls to prove sla- 
very to be a moral and political evil, aiul that duly and 
policy ri-'iuirr its abolition, the charge is true. But If this 
charge is used to imply puhlicaiions encouraging insurrec- 
tion, and designed toex<'ite the slaves lo break their fxtlers, 
the cliarge is unequivocally lalse. We beg our lellow- 
citizens to notice that this charge is mude without proof, 
and by many who confess that they have n^ver read our 
pubi. cations; and that those who make It offer lo the jiub- 
lie no evidence from our writings in support of it. 

"(5. We are accused of sending our publicatiuns to the 
■laves; and It is asstrted that their leiidencv is to excite 
insurrections. Uoth the charges are false. These publi- 
cations are not intended lor the slaves ; and were lliey able 
to read them, they would tind In them no encouro^'cment 
to insurrection. 

'•9 We are accused of employing agents in the slave 
Stales to ilistnbute our publiralions. We have never had 
one -such agent. We sent no packages of our papers 
to any ;>«r»on in those States for dislnbuiloii, excepl to 
five respectable resident citizens at tlicir own request. 
But we have sent by mail single papTs, addressed to pub- 
li: officers, editors of newspapers, clergymen, and others. 
II', therefore, our object is lo excite the slaves lo insurrec- 
tion, tlie masters arc our agents." 

That is the exposition which they put furth in 
1935, when tills exciieinent first bfgan. These sen- 
timcnis have been reiternted nearly every year from 
that time to ihie; and, us far as I Icnow anything of 
the movements of this organized society, they have 
religiously and scrupulously lived up lo them. I 
have yet to see th« first resolution titey have passed, 
the first line they have printed, in contradiciion or 
Contravention ol this platform, thus laid down in 
1^35. 

What was the state of fet-ling at the .South at that 
time, wh<n this body was so small and contemptible ? 
I want to read a few resolutions passed In .South 
f.'arolinain the yar 1835, to sIkjw who was gelling 
up exciieinent. At a meeting of .S|. J jiiu-s's and tst. 
George's Parishes, South Carolina, they — 

•• R'-nlrfd.diruiniiifuili/.yTli-U slioulil tlie nou-ajave- 

' - ■ ■ - ■ - !• lose, at Ihe ensuing meetings of 

! H, to jiiit a hnal stop lo ihe jiro- 

iL KiH-ielles against tlie d'liiieslic 

(-...-•.. ,1,. .■- MM,.. ...... ijciuiilly prevent any furtlor inter- 

lereoce by tliem with our ulave (lopulalioii, />y iffirii-ul 
fcrub' tait: it teiJ thtn lnciitnr ihr tulrmn liaty uj Ihr triuilr 

^■•■•■" ../-. ( •fTul'rt Ih' iiiA'tri II unit iif cure tknr i ighft 

■ft tht uiiiiiimliliiltiinul runjjiiuttiuttt uf 
1 .:; Slitlm in llf rniirilrruiu dftignt of 

. - .. .. . :j trtlhijruirj'rutn Iff Uniun." 

There wn* tho Ihkiiu presented in 1935. If the 
non-tldVehnlding Slates did Doi pass penal laws to 
put down the AUjllil'inisis in 183.'), it was the Hui>-inn 
duty of the Southern States, accordinjf to ihesu 
recolution* paxiied in South Curohnu. to withdraw 



from the Union. Well, sir, 1 have in my hand another 
remarkable paper, taken from the Charleston Mer- 
cury, published about the same time, headed the 
"Crisis." This paper says: 

"The proper time for a contention of the slatiholdiiig- 
Stales will be when the Legislatures of Pennsylvania, 
Mas8achusells,and New York, shall have adjnuriitd wilh- 
uut passing laws for Ihe suppression of the abolition socie- 
ties. Should either of these States pass s'lch laws, it 
would be Well lo wait till their ffficmy should be tested. 
The adjournrut-nt of lh« Legislatures of Northern Stales 
wiliiout adopting any measures to put down Garrison. 
Tappan, and their associates, will present an issue wbich 
must be Viet by the S<mtli, or it will be in vain for us ever 
after to attempt aiiylhing further than for this State topro- 
vule for her own safety by defensive measures of her own. 
If the issue presented is to be tnel, it can only be done by 
a conrimliun of the iu:gritriil Slates : the proceedings of 
which, to be of any value, must embody and make known 
the aentiiiunts of the whole Soulh, and contain the dis- 
tinct annunciation of our fixed and unalterable determina- 
tion to OBTAIN TUe [lEDILESS OF OCR GRIEVANCES, be the 
conserpietices wtial they may. 

" We must have it clearly understood that in framing a 
constiliilional Union with our Northern brethren, the 
slaveholding Slates consider themselves no more liable lo 
any interference with their domestic concerns than if they 
had remained entirely indejiendeut of the other Slates ; 
and thai, as such an Interference would, among independ- 
ent uulioiis, be a just cause of war, so among members of 
such a Confederacy as ours. It must place Ihe several 
States in the relailon towards each other of open enemies. 
To sum up ill a lew words the whole argument on thie 
subject, we would say that the abolitioniata can only be 
put down by legislation In the States In which they exist, 
and this can only be brought about by the embodied opin- 
ion if the whole South, acting upon public opinion at the 
Xorft, which can only be effected through the instrumeut- 
allty of a convention of the slarelutlding Slates. For thie 
we believe ihe public mind Is not yet prepared, especially 
in our sister Slates." 

That vsas to be the time for tho Convention. If 
the Legislatures of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, 
and New Vorlv, then in session, adjourned without 
passing laws to put down abolition societies, then 
the lime for a Southern Convention had come. 
Mark the expression, " should either of these States 
pass such laws, it would be well to wait lill their 
efficacy can be tested." 

Now, sir, was the South arrayed against Tappan, 
Garrison, and ihe societies designated in the speech 
of the Senator from South Carolina as '' small and 
contemptible?" If the Legislatures of Massachu- 
setts, Pennsylvania, and New Vork, did not come to 
their rescue, it was time for a convention of the slave- 
holding States. 

•• For this we believe the public miud is not yet prepared^ 
especially in our sister Slates." 

"Not yet prepared." There was something lo be 
done to prepare the public mind for it. " VVe believe 
the public mind is not yet prepared in the sister 
Stales." It seems that the public mind was pretty 
well prepared in .South Carolina, but something was 
to be done to prepare the sister States; and, in this 
connexion, it seems to me that the letter which I 
rend yesterday has a most pregnant and siirniticanl 
meaning. Mr. Calhocn, wriung to DutT Green, 
says: 

" Since you passed through the Soulh, the eicitement 
in relation to the Northern fanatics has greatly increas- 
ed 'ice. 

How far short of disunion was the remedy to be 
found 7 Why, if they could be so far prepared as to- 
put u certain man at the head of the Union, would 
they stop thus far short of disunion ? That was the 
meanin:j; of it. Hut the thing was not then " pre- 
pared" In the sister States; though, I suppose, the 
jjentienien who thought the sisler Slates not suffi- 
ciently prepared fifteen years ago, suppose they tiave 
got iheiii pretty well [irtpnred by this time. 

The Senator from .South f'.irolina, speaking of the 
nnti-slavirv agitation at the .\<irth, says, "which, as 
is now acknowle Iged. has endangered the Union." 
,\ow, sir, that is not tlie case. The Union was safe 
enough, the public mind was safe enough, fifteen 
yirors ago. I hold in my hand a newspnp« r culledi 



11 



the Union, published in this city the 14th of February 
last ; and this editor, who, I sufiposc, will be admit- 
ted to be good authority on the subject, says : 

'•The (ollowinf; fact Htamls out promiiicnily in Hip lilf- 
tiiry o{ parlies in New ndnipuliire, vi/. : that before the an- 
nexation of Texas anil Ilic treason of John V. Hale to the 
Democratic party, (whidi act of treachery he Koiiglit to jnM- 
tify on the pretext of opposition to the adinission of Texas.) 
that party was as free from all taint of aholitinn or free Roil- 
iam asihe Democracy of Virginia. Th"y opposcil all nirita- 
tlon of tiie slavery question, and iliey opposed the abolition- 
ists i.i every form." 

Now. sir, you have this declaration coming from 
this source — one tliat will not be disputed — that up 
to the annexation of Texas in 1845 'here was as little 
Abolitionism and Free-.Soilism in New Hampshire, 
as in Virginia herself. And if the same be true of New 
Hampshire, it is true of all the Northern States gen- 
erally, so far as anythini; alli'eiing the public councils 
are concerned. Hut at that lime what did the North 
see? They .saw then the proposition, clearly an<t un- 
blushinsly put fortii, that the whole purposes and en- 
ergies of the Government must be brought to bear for 
the purpose of strengthening and sustaining the in- 
stitution of slavery. The following is the announce- 
ment that was made by the Secretary of State: 

" A movement of thi.s sort [abolition of slavery in Texas) 
cannot be contemplated by u.-; in silence ; such an attempt 
upon any neifrhborin!: country would necessarily be viewed 
by this Government wiili deep concern; but when it is 
made \i-ioi\ a nation whose territories join the slaveholding 
States of our Union, it awakens a still more solemn inter- 
est ; it cannot be permitted to succeed without the most 
strenuous efforts on our part to arrest a calamity so serious 
to every j)art of our country. The establishment in the 
very midst of our slavelioldin? St^ites oi an independent 
Government, forbidding the existence of slavery, and by a 
people born for tlie mo.st part among us, reared up in our 
habits and speakinj; our lanj.'uajje, could not fail to produce 
the most unhappy effects upon both parties." 

This, sir, is the sreat secret of the opposition to 
the admission of California. It is because they are 
a people who accord with us in their hearts and 
speak our language, and have forbidden the exist- 
ence of slavery among them. After the announce- 
ment to which I have referred of the Secretary of 
State, 3Ir. Upshur, the Government went to work 
and negotiated a treaty of annexation. I think it is 
wrong, however, to say of annexation — that Texas 
was annexed to the United States. It is not so ; the 
United States were annexed to Texas, as the matter 
was consummated. Texas applied to us for annex- 
ation. Messrs. Van Buren and Forsyth believed 
they had not the right to do it consistently with na- 
tional faith, and they rejected it. 

Then we applied to Texas, and she rejected us ; 
and then a second time we asked Texas to take us, 
and she consented to do so; and I therefore protest 
in the name of justice against calling it annexation 
to the United States. Texas stood off, and we went 
to her a second time, and she took us, and the avow- 
al we made to induce them to do it was, that we 
could not maintain and defend our institutions un- 
less they came to our rescue. The communication 
of Mr. Calhoun to Mr. Green, the American Charge 
to >iexico, communicating the annexation of April 
19, 1844, says : 

■• And, in the next place, that the step was forced on the 
Government of the United States in self-defence, in conse- 
quence of the policy adopted by Great Britain in reference 
to the abolition of slavery in Texas. It was impossible for 
the United Slates to witne.ss with indifference the efforts of 
Great Britain to abolish slavery there. They could not 
but see that she had the means in her power, in the actual 
condition of Texas, to accomplish the objects of her pol- 
icy, unless prevented by the most efficient measures; and 
that, if accomplished, if would lead to a state of tliinps 
danserous in the extreme to the adjacent States and the 
Union itself Seeing this, the Government has been com- 
pelled, by tlie necessity of the case and a regard to itscon- 
stitulional obligations, to take the step it has. as the only 
certain and effectual means of iirevenling it." 

That was the doctrine advanced by Mr. Calhoun 
in his letter to Mr. Green, and the same doctrine 
was insisted on in his letter to Mr. Pakenham, the 



British Minister, which I will not trouble the Sen- 
ate with reading. The letter is dated the 18th of 
April, 1844, and declares, in efFect, that measures 
must be token to prevent abolition in Texas, to 
guard against the injurious efFect on us. It was the 
avowul of these Bentimenis by tlio General Govern- 
ment, thus boldly urd unblushingly made, and the 
declaration of Mr. Calhoun that unless those eiroris 
should succeed it would involve the whole country, 
and not the slaveholding Slates alone, in great ca- 
lamity, that awakened and aroused the public senti- 
ment at the North. Tluy saw then the revolution 
about to be effected in the Government, and that, 
instead of quie'ly employing ourselves at home, we 
were seeking to strengthen our hands by the incor- 
ponition of foreign nations in this Union to sustain 
the institution ofslavery. 

Now, in connection with this subject of the an- 
nexation of Texas, 1 come to the recent speech of the 
Senator from Massachusetts, [Mr. WEusTEn,] and 
I regret as much as any man being compelled to 
dlU'er from the honorable Senator. But 1 have this 
consolation, that it I difllr from the honorable Sen- 
ator from Massachusetts in IB.'iO, I agree with him 
In 184S. In a speech made by him in the Senate in 
1848, the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts 
used this language : 

"My opposition to the increase ol sla ?ry in this coun- 
try, or to liie increase of slave representation in Congress, 
is general and universal. It has no reference to the lines of 
latitude or points of the compass, /shall ujrfiosi- all siuk 
exlfnsioji and all such increase, in all places, at ail times, 
uyuler all circumstances, even against all inducements, 
against all supposeit limitation of great interests, against 
ml cumtilnatiuns, against all compromises." — Mr. Webster 
in the Henatc, August 10, 1848." 

I agree with that sentiment of his, however I may 
ditier from some later things which he has said. I 
want now to call the attention of the Senate to 
some other remarks of the Senator from Massachu- 
setts, made upon this subject in the Senate of the 
United States : 

" Mr. President, there is no citizen of this country who 
is more kindly disposed toward the people of Texas than 
myself, from the time they achieved, in sc extraordinary a 
manner, their independence from the Mexican Govern- 
ment. I have shown, I hope, in anoilier place, and slialt 
show in all situations and under all circumstances, a jtist 
and proper regard for the people of that country ; but 
with respect to its annexation to this Union, it is well 
known that from the first announcement of any such idea, 
I have felt it my duty steadily, uniformly, and zealously to 
oppose it, I have expres.sed opinions and urged arguments 
against it everywhere and on all occasions in which the 
subject came under consideration, and could not now, if I 
were to go over the whole topic again, adduce any new 
views or support old views, as far as I am aware, by any 
new arguments or illustrations. My efforts have been con- 
s'aiit and unwavering, but. like those of others, they have 
fiiiled of success. I will, therefore, ui a very few words, 
acting under the unanimous resolution and instructions of 
both branches of the Legislature of Massachusetts, as well 
as in conformity to my own settled judgment and full con- 
viction, recapitulate before the Senate and bettre the coun- 
try the objections which have prevailetl. and which al- 
ways will prevail with me, against this measure of annex- 
ation. . . • ■ 

" In the third place, sir, 1 have to say. that while 1 hold, 
with as much integrity, I trust, and faithfulness as any cit- 
izen of this country, to all the original arrangements and 
compromises in which the Constitution uniltr which we 
now live was adopted, I never could and never can per- 
suade my.self to be in favor of the admission of oI^ rStates 
into the Union as slave States, with the inequalities which 
were allowed and accorded to ttie slaveholding States theQ 
in exisence by the Constitution. I do not think that the 
free States ever expected or could expect, that ihey would 
be called on to admit further slave Slates, having the ad- 
vantages, the unequal advantages arising to them from the 
mode of apportioning representation under the existing 
Constitution. 

" Sir, 1 have never made an effort, and never propose to- 
make an effort ; I have never countenanced an effort, and 
never mean to countenance an effort, to disturb the ar- 
rangements, as originally made, by which the various 
States came into the Union ; but I cannot avoid consider- 
ing it quite a different question when a proposition is . 
made to admit new States, and that ihey be ailowed t» <^ 



12 



•m* *n <»)!►» !*•♦ Sim* 



i»'.^!a?»« «ntl in<»'»'j»!i''?« which 



lie 

u<-,| 

.1 1 



> (lie c|Ur>' 
> :it UpuU i(, 

. . . r . , 

krlT lo iiiru ihe 

••I'.'i..-' into a 

iiml 

nut 

un>l 

' '.!,j: iI uiII go 

"fTrr f«lirr*, or 

iiiiw. sir, thai all 

•u (iu«l I CUIllU 

' il: ii ili<>»* wlio 

• r iiU(i|>orl 

ki.iii'l I 

■ mv |>iii)i. 

■V .km 

.•(I; 

. tjv 

til- i i . 1 .- • .. ■ (1 ■ ■■■•ucli 

Uill I nni kiisl.iill'-d liy K ilrcfi 

'.'ity. Auil while mipiiiirlnl l<v 

• . - srcat luli-rrbiit ari* <it olakr, I 

viiU u4 nu umru but my cuuiitr/'a caur^t:.'' 
■< wh.Ti the Sena'or from Massachu- 

'!" in 1S4?; the iiK-a8iir«' is uncon- 
~ a sna)! juJgiiu-nt. Nuw, I ai>li, 

• ind by u snap judgment uncun- 
p d ] Ani yet, sir, in antiwcr to 
r >-4cd tu him a lew days ago, if he 
III. II..- Ml riiiulution ad>>|)ted by a major- 
ity oi ~ea of Con^rt-.ss imposed a c-on- 
xnr\ ■ 1 WIS binding, ho said that he 
i! ind in good failh to carry 
i' r new slivp Stales out of 
t. , of the obligation imposed 

-• wlio paiired the resolutions. I have 
t. .y as to how ihiit question will b6 met 

N -, and il is not very probable that I 

:iy public position to iiuit it when it 
<: ■ ; but I undertake to say, fur the pres- 

• ;. . ■ '■ ' ihe»e resuluiions impo'te no obli- 

- ■:. ■ . ■. I'.uver. I trust I shall always be 

.;.» c to Texas, but no considerniion 

- anything ei.se Is imposed upon me 

.1 .;i.»n growlnc dui of those resolutions. 

I'. .'< ti .' Ktdi by the Constitution ('ongress has 

the ri^lit to admit a .State, but, because il can do 

ihj* i; li :' ri' right lo connect with that oct a 

'-: M nation, out of which any obli- 

;: .11 rest on this O.jvernmeni. Ills 

"rideacomp.ici wiili Texas — 

' -and my unitwer to il is, 

.V eUe knew thai I'ongress, 

' ' iiialie thai compnci, .!id what 

' do, and what it was i .\pr^•^sly 

iiig. Did not the President anil 

'.jtu send llie matter lo the trvuiy- 

; find when It fulled, did not the Pres- 

■ I'l ihe IllBt'' ■ ' wt 

..' h in the fi' my 

■ii ihe iw(. 1 1 1 '.m- 

• iiion ill '.la n;iliis of 

1 of lis eonniitiiilonal 

' ition binding on my 

h nn act. I trust I 

- h'f" th»< wcj^jhi of 



Il Is put 



II u put on 



VSai, 



:U: 



iU avLUo «.aiiwu« «.olUt. 



in rela:ion to to this Texas anne.\ition. The Sen- 
ator from M.issachust'its, in that very patriotic 
speei-h for whuh he has been so much lauded that 
1 cannot in uiiy;hin|i in what I may say adu to 
ihosr laudations, and iherelore will nut attempt it — 
the Senator undertakes to charge on the Democ- 
racy of the North that they were governed by the 
purpost, in!li<ir !*upport of the annexation of Texas, 
avuwid by the Administration scekin^j it — and that 
was the desire to extend blavcry. But the Senator 
from llhnoi> [.Mr. Doiulap] says that it is not so, 
and hu shows us the record as exhibiting the fact 
Ihat every Noriiiern man in Congress who spoke on 
the subject cast from him the proposition of the Ad- 
iiiinisirution, and took another broad, comprehen- 
sive, liberal, enlightiTied, pairi tic, and Christian 
view <if It, and supported it solely on these consid- 
erations. Well, sir, there have been some remark- 
able and must astonishing coincidences, and this 
surely is one of them. I remember reading in the 
Pickwick Pajiers of another eijually remarkable one. 
Voung Weller was relating the circumstance of his 
father being once engaged lo take some voters in 
his coach to an election poll. While thus engaged, 
the committee on the othi r side met him and sug- 
gested to him that there was a danjjerous place on 
the road, where the coach mu.'t certainly upset, at 
the same time insinuating a i;°20 note in his hand. 
And, said the son, in telling of the circumstance, 
one of ine mos: exiraurdinary circums'tancee was, 
that when lather got to the place, the coach actually 
upse!, and the voters were all thrown into the ditch, 
and did not get to the polls to vole. Well, sir, it 
8vem- iltat in this transaction m regard to Texas 
there is a coincidence equally astonishing. The 
moment the Senator from Souih Carolina perceived 
the necessity of the annexation of Texas for the 
purpose of sustaininL', >trcnythi.ning, perpetuating, 
and rendering eternal the institution of human sla- 
very, that moment the .\0'thern Democracy, before 
opposed to it, opened .heireve*, and saw it us a great 
and glorious national measure. Just at that mo- 
ment did they see all this, and supported the meas- 
ure, not for the reasons assigned hy the .Administra- 
tion, but for other reasons of a v>-ry diUerent char- 
acter. This, in my judgment, is certainly one of 
the most remarkable and astonishing coincidences 
on record. 

There is another, equally astonishing, on this side 
of the chamber, exhibited in the course of the hon- 
orable .Senator from Miissachusetts, who filed a ca- 
veat against anybody taking a patent out for the use 
of his thunder, and who avowed his determination 
to defend it at all limes and on all occasions. At 
ihe v.ry time this thunder becomes a little annoying 
In some quarters, and ihrea'cns to embarrass the 
Administration, the Siiiutor discovers all at once 
that the l.iws o: God lake care of th.> Proviso, and 
that it wants nothing at our hands. Where were 
thisc laws of God when the Oregon bill was under 
consideration ? W-re not those laws in as full op- 
eration in 1-^H as they are in 1?50 ? Does not the 
law of God lake care of the Proviso up to 49 degrees, 
as Will 08 below 3') degrees 30 minutes? Or, sir, 
are the Iw^r of God and the in.stiaitions of piety 
more potent iiniler the present Administration 
than they were under the last ] Then it was abso- 
lutely necessary to iiistrt the Proviso into the Oregon 
bill; but now, ihat a new Administration has come 
in, nnd this thunder is very annoying and disturbing 
to ihcm, a'l at once it is discovi-nd that there is no 
sort of niTesrtiiy (or having any thiiniir at all, and 
that the laWH oi God take care of the whole question. 
And t!ie Senator says 'ic would not re-enael the law.s 
ui God. What would he do, then 7 Would he enact 
lows in repudiation and condemnation of the laws 
of ftfxl 7 All ihe laws we pass mtmi be cither in ac- 
■ .me with or a:;alnst the Divine will. Have 
not liiwit in MiiMsachiisi'tis against murder, 
log, ond perjury f ond, if so, what are they but 
ihu rv-caactmcni of (he laws of Oud 7 Vet the Sen- 



13 



alor declares he would not re-enact the laws of God. 
Well, sir, I would. And when he tells mn that the 
law of God is against slavery, it is a most jiotent 
arprunnent to my mind why Wf should incorporate it 
with any Territorial bill, and against leaving it out. 

Well, sir, I will draw these remarks which I am 
making to a close. I will pass to another subject, 
the bill for the surrender of fugiiive slaves. That is 
a k-ine qua non. We must have a bill to carry out 
those provisions. Great fault h.-is been found with 
the remark of the iionorable Senator from New 
York, [>!'. Seward,] that the obligations which we 
owe to the Creator of all the earth are greater than 
those we owe to the Constitution. I do not stand 
up to take care of or defend the remarks of the Sen- 
ator from New York, because he can do it better 
than I can do it. 

But, however strong the Senator from New York 
may have made his position, however he may have 
said that the Constitution should be set aside when 
the laws of God contravene, ho fell very far short of 
the position assumed by high authority laid down 
on this subject about the the vear 1835. 

1 will now read an extract iVom a letter written by 
Amos Kendall, then Postmaster General, to the 
postmaster of Charleston, in reference to the open- 
ing of packages in the mail. He says : 

"Th; Poplniaster General has no legal authority to ex- 
clude newspapers iVom tlie ni.iil, nor protiibit their c.irriaire 
or delivery, but I am not prepared to direct you to Inrwaril 
or deliver tlie papers of which you .speak. By no act or 
direction of mine, official or private, could I be induced to 
aid knowinp:ly in givinc circulation to papers of that de- 
scription, directly or indirectly. We owe obligation to the 
laws, hut a higher one to the e&mmunities in tr/iich we live ; 
and if the former be perverted to destroy the latter, it is pa- 
triotism to disregard them." 

Now, sir, where is the fanaticism of the Senator 
from New York ? Why, it does not come up to the 
A B C of this fanaticism ; and this was doctrine 
promulgated by the Administration, by its official 
organ in 1835— that we owed obedience to the laws 
under which we lived, but that we owed a higher 
obligation to any mob in the Union who chose to 
disregard them. Now, I do not stand here to defend 
or explain anything the Senator from New York 
may have said ; but let it be as fanatical as it may 
be, it is milk ard water in comparison with what 
was promulgated by the United States Postmaster 
General to his subordinates in 1835, that the obliga- 
tion? of the Constitution might be set at naught by 
an oflRcer of the Government, when he supposed that 
the interests of the community in which he lived re- 
quired it. What is the doctrine here maintained ? I 
want to know. Is the Senate ready to answer that 
question which was propounded more than 1800 
years ago by the apostle, when he asked, " whether 
it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you 
more than unto God, judge ye." Has i' been set- 
tled, then, that this doctrine implied by the inter- 
rogatory propo.^ed by the apostle, viz : the unquali- 
fied supremacy of God's law, is to be set at naught, 
to be derided, to be treated contemptuously, to be 
trodden under foot by every man ? Is a sense of re- 
ligious obligation to be scorned as tinworthy of a 
place in this republican assembly? I do not know 
how far such doctrines may eo, but I will say that 
while I am disposed to yield all obedience to the con- 
stitutional laws under which we live, I will stop a 
great deal short of the mark hid down by the hon- 
orable Senator from North Carolina yesterday. He 
says — "if judgment is obtained by fraud or violence, 
it is the duty of the citizen, not to arrest that judg- 
ment, but to ste it carried out." 

I have stated on another occasion what are my 
objections to the hill before the Senate. They are, 
that whileit recognises slavery, it recognises nothing 
else but slavery- ~ This bill is not framed with refer- 
ence to negroes; it is framed with reference to any- 
body and everybody, and proceeds on the assump- 
tion that the man who is seized in a free State is of 
course a slave. Now, the presumption of the law 



in the State where I live, where no slavery is recog- 
nised by law, is, that every man there is a frcemanr 
both in the technical and political srnse of the word. 
But this bill, with the amendment attached to it. 
with its affidavits taken a thousand miles ofl' behina 
his back, supposes that the man seized is a slave; 
and its passes over and cniire'ly forgets one provis- 
ion of the Constitution, which is, that no person shall 
be Seized without due process of law. But gentle- 
men argue as if the person seized must oi necessity 
be a slave, and the bill supposes and recognises him 
as a slave. Then we are told it will be impossible to 
carry out the provisions of the Constitution unless- 
some bill of this sort is passed. I, et us suppose an 
individual living in New Hampshire from his birth 
is seized as a slave : the thing has occurred of the 
seizure of an individual not many years ago, who 
drew every breath he ever drew in New Hampshire. 
It was a rare occurrence, and I remember it was so 
rare that, when the prosecuting authorities undertook 
to proceed aL'ainst those »vlio had seized this individ- 
ual, no statute asainst kidnapping could be found, 
and they were indicted at common law; since that 
tiinc, a statute has been enacted. Now, suppose an 
individual of that character is seized there — an indi- 
vidual who has been born, nurtured, and tirought up 
there, owing allegiance and being entitled to protec- 
tion there. You come upon him with an affidavit 
taken a thousand miles off, and you seize him. 
Where is that man's right ? Where is the trial by 
jury? Where is the habeas corpus? Where is the 
protection which the Constitution guaranties to the 
meanest citizi-n living under the law ? Why, sir, it 
is trampled in the dust by this bill ; he is carried be- 
fore a tribunal by one of the officers of the Govern- 
ment, without the right of a supervisory examination 
of a Judge of the United States Court within the 
district ; without any of the privileges belonging to 
a freeman, he is seized and hurried ofl"; and, although 
it may appear upon the face of it a mere prima facia 
examination, it is to all intents and purposes a final 
and conclusive judgment, because the officer gives 
to the claimant a certificate, and he hurries him ofiT; 
and when he gets to the great slave mart of Chris- 
tendom, the city of Washington, he may sell him or 
send him wherever he please^ Now, I am free to 
say, once for all, much as I love the Union, much as 
I reverence its institutions, fond as ore my memories 
which cling around its early histories, I would sac- 
rifice them all to-day before I would consent that the 
citizens of my native State should at one blow he 
stripped of every right that is dear to them, and for 
which their fathers bled and died. 

Now, sir, if that is to be the price of the preserva- 
tion of the Union, I say, "come disunion, and come 
to-day;" if you can only pur hase peace with us by 
compelling us to surrender e\erything which exalts 
us above your slaves, let disunion come; I think the 
people of the free States will be ready for it. I am 
utterly astonished to hear a proposition of this sort 
made in the American Senate. The bill proceeds 
entirely on the assumption that there are no rights in 
the Constitution, except the rights of slavery, and 
there is not a single word or letter in the proposition 
I have read, and I have read it very carefully, that is 
found to guard and protect with any efficient legis- 
lation the rights of a man or a child that may be 
wrongfully seized. Why not frame a bill that se- 
cures the rights both of the slaveholder and freeman? 
Why is there not some penalty imposed upon those 
persons who, upon some pretence or color of right, 
undertake, unlawfully, to seize an individual? Does 
not the same obligation rest upon us to deliver up all 
your property, even a horse, if it should escape ? 
Are not the free States under even,' obligation which 
an honest man would be under? Arc they not 
bound, as honest men, to deliver up that property ? 

Every citizen has a right to sue in the courts of 
his own State for the recovery of his property, and 
the Constitution of the United States provides that 
" the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 



14 



privileges and immunities of citizens in the several 
States." There are courts, and a law of civilized 
society; a law which compels us to deliver up all 
the proptrty of any citizen which may be found in 
our State. In New Hampshire, you cannot come 
and take a hor?e without a trial by jury, nor any 
other pri'periy, amounting in value to S13 3'J. il any 
individual contests it. But y^JU come and take, not 
the horse, but the rider; not the accident, but the 
man ; not a cow, out a child. Then the safeguards 
which the Constitution throw.s around prop-.rty are 
stronger than for the man, and there is no help for 
hiiu. Hut let me not be misunderstood ; nor let it 
be said that I was ready to dissolve the L'nion. I 
said no such thing ; and the ini;enuity of no man is 
coiii;>etent to torture what I siiid into such a mean- 
ing. I said, sooner than surrender those rights for 
which the battles of the Revolution were fought, 1 
would let the Union go ; for the Union was I'ormed 
to secure the blessings of liberty, as our fathers have 
said; but when it is used to secure the curses of 
.slavery, then, I say, it should go down. 1 cannot 
suppose a bill of this character can possibly pass, 
unless it is made etVectual to prevent abuses of this 
sort. 

We are accused of having other purposes in this 
mattf-r, and int» nding to irritate, wound, and insult 
the fttlin^'s of Southern cenilemen; but I ask you, 
if we have ever said anything on this subject that 
begins to come up to the declarations which have 
been taught us by the founders of the Republic in tho 
slave States. I will not read them, but if I should 
be so foolish as to write out this speecti, I may tran- 
scribe some of those declarations, made by the hon- 
orable Wiiliaiii I'inkney, of .Maryland, on this sub- 
ject. Sir, everything which the Abolitionists now 
say is tame, insijud, and heartless, compared with 
the denunciations made by him in the Legislature of 
-Maryland, in 17'?9. 
i,'rrrtir,'i from a »if.tch of \Vm. Pin/cney, delirered in the 

yi'try.arul lypitlature, July \7^, on a bill fur the relief 

of of/prrsseU liart*. 

'• The gf-nerous mind that has adequate ideas of the in- 
!.• r-:.! -i.-A.'s nf mankind, uiid knows the value of ihem, 
r- ii'idiguatioii rise against tJic shamf/ul traffic, 

■ • ■* slavery into a country which ser-msj to have 
t I dy Providence as an osyiHin lor tlinse whom 

l:.L- .irni •: cower has persecuted, ami not as the nursery 
iir Wftclies hlrijiped of every privilege which Heaven iu- 
IrH'!-: lor ilf rational freatu'rea, uiid reilured to a level 
MTilh— nay, hecome llienitelves— the mbrb goods and 

CUATTEli) OF THEIR .HASTBRS. 

" Sir. br the Henud prinriplei of natural justice, so mas- 

TR< .S TUB STATB HAS A KIGHT TO HOLU HIS SLAVE IN 
B 'Nt'A -.8 FOR A bl.NOLE HOl'B ; bul tlie law of ItlC land, 
w .; '.■>«• vero///<re»/fice aud uiijuit,iiiiw>:vir incunnist- 
'ti: :•.... '!■• L'reat trruund-wurlc nt the late revolution aud 
'■;' . .■ . ■ • irimf ■ f Government) we cannot, in prudence 
■ '■■ :i . r -iril t 1 jnilividual rights, abolish, has author- 
--. or perhaps tr^ra^, than tlie most ah • 
s-rviiule that ever Ensland knew in 

■ mpiie, under the tyrannical policy of 
I- II liil tenures ol tiie Saxons, or the pure 
Normans. * ' ' Sir, the natural char- 

iiid is Mutriciently »uWi>J and liinhunured by 

■ 'iv-ry ; but when it Is found that your 

-ble enrouragemeni to its ronlinuauce 

• )im, and are ingenious to prevent even 

decline, how is the evil of the impor- 

li may even be lhoui{lil that our late 

liberty did not originate in principle, 

11 popular i-Jiprice, the rn^e of faction, 

of party ' ' ' Sir, fet gentlemen 

. thiit. after Provideni-e has rrowned 

■ no..- ol L" ii.i ,il ir.reilom With HUCfesH, 

I inyriailof danjjers, 

' IJiii-k upon each 

• .• principles upon 

; .DIM j.. .■.■.!»«■ of that intrr|)o»i- 

i.Qr we foiild have been naved 

;...w.r. We niJiy talk of liberty 

. . I Nat we (e. I a revereure 

1. with all the vi.'hemence 

, reFhioii. ami flatter our- 

iiH'er; litit, no lon/f ru tee 

« trrrj of ftarlKil tlavery 

•ur tinrmltf In th* n.im« 

<il Ui.'u, vtiiL Alia: '.^.I'.iu Mc call uurkelvea (lie fncodj 



of equal freedom and the inherent rights of our species, 
when we wantonly pass laws inimical to eacb ; when we 
reject every opponunitv o( destroying, by siUnt impercep- 
tible degrees, the horrid fabric ol individcal bondage, 
reared by the mercenary hands of those from whom the 
s,icred itame of liberty received no devotion ? 

'•Sir, it is pitiable to reflect to what wild incoisistencies, 
to what opposite extremes we are hurried by the Irailty of 
our nature. Long liave I been convinced that uo generous 
sentiment of whirhthe human heart is capable, no elevated 
passion of the Soul that dignities maiikiiid, can obtain a 
uniform and perfect dominion : toilay we may be aroused 
as one man, bv n wonderful and unaicountable sympathy, 
ugaii.st the latrltna inraJer of the riifhta if hisffUmc crea- 
lurrn ; tomorrow we may "be guilty of nonte oppression 
irhirh ire reproliaird and rtaiated in others. Is it, Mr. 
Speaker, because the complexion of these devoted victims 
is not ([uite so delicate as ours I Is it because their untu- 
tored minds (AuviW^r/ a/irf debased by the hereditary yoke) 
appear less active and capacious than our own? or is it 
because we liave beeu So habituated to their situation as to 
become callous to the horrors of it, that we are determined, 
whether polilic or not. to keep them till lime shall be uo 
more on a lerrl xcith the brutes 1 ' FoR nothing, ' says 

Montesquieu, • 80 MI'CII ASSIMILATES A MAN TO A BRHTB 
AS LIVING AMONG FREEMEN HIMSELF A SLAVE.' 

" Call not Maryland a land of librrtv ; do not pre- 
tend that she has chosen this country as an asylum; that 
she has erected her temiile and consecrattd her shrine, 
when here also her unhaltoirfd enemy holds his hellish pan- 
drmoniutn, and our rulers offer sacrifices at hia jMUuted 
attars. The lily and the bramble may grow in social prox- 
imity, BUT LIBERTY AND SLAVERY DELIGHT IN SEPARATION. 
• • I Would as soon believe the incoherent tale of a school- 
boy, who shouKl tell me that he had beei; frightened by a 
ghost as that the grunt of manumission ouglit in any degree 
to alarm us. Are we apprehensive that ttiese men will be- 
come more dangerous by becoming freemen 1 Are we 
alarmed lest, bv being ailinilted to the tiijoymeiit of civil 
Tights, they will be inspired with a deadly eiindty 
iigaiii.st the rights of others ! Strange, unaccountable par- 
adox ! H nv much more rational would it be to arjue fliat 
the nalural enemy of the privileges of n freeman is he who 
is robbed ol' thr-m'kim.ielf! In him the foul fiend of jeal- 
ousy converts the sense of his own dt basement into a ran- 
corous haired for the more auspicious fate of others, while 
from him whom you have raised from the degrading situ- 
ation of a slarr. whom you have restored to that rank in 
the order of tbf universe which the malignity of his fortune 
prevented him from obtaiaiiig before, from such a man 
(unless his soul he fen thousand times blacker llian his 
complexion) you may reasonably hope for all the happy 
effectn of the irarmest gratitude and love. 

'• Sir, let us not limit our views to tlie short period of a 
life in being ; let us extend them along the continuous line 
of endlessgenerations yet to come. Ilow will the millions 
that now teem in the womb of fu'urity. and whom your 
present latrs would doom la the ccrse of perpetcal bond- 
ass, feel the inspiration of gratitude to those whose sacred 
lore of lit/Tty stiull have oiicned the door to their admis- 
sion irithin the pale of freedum .' Dishonorable to th« 
species is the idea tliatiliiy would ever prove injurious to 
our Intere.sts; released from the shackles of s.'arerj/. by the 
jusCice of fJovemment'and the bounty ol individuals, the 
want of fidelity aud attachment would be next to impo«- 
sible. 

"It is for us to reflect that whatever the complexion, 
hoicerrr ignoble the ancestry or uncnltivaleil the mind, ONB 

fSIVKRSAL father GAVE BEINO TO TUEM AND CS ; AND 
WITH THAT BKINO OONFBRIIBD THE INAf4liNABLE RIGUTS 
OP THB SPECIES."' 

Estractsfrom a speech delivered in the Maryland Legis- 
lature, Sorember, 1789. 

"The door to freeilom is fenced about wllli such barba- 
rotM caution that a slramfer would be naturally led to be- 
lieve that our slateiimen considered the existence of its 
opposite among us as the sine ywa non of our prosperity ; 
or, at least, Oial they regunled ll as an act of the most utru- 
ciout criminality to raise an humlile bondman from the 
dust, atul }tlace him on the stage of life on a level trilh their 
citizens 

" Mr. Speaker. ini'/niloui and mo?/ dishonorable to Mary- 
laud is t'ul dreary system of partial bondage, which their 
lavs have hitherto supported with a solicitude worthy of a 
belter oliject, and her citizens by their practice couuI«- 
nanced. 

"Founddl In n dSsjrracrful imfflc, to whifh the parent 
rountry lent lur ro8t<>rlncaid, from motives of interest, but 
whicli even she would have disdained to encourage, had 
England been the destined mart of sdch iniicman mer- 
chaNDIkX. its rnn/iriii(jnc>> is as shnmrfiil .is ith origin. 

" Kternal infamy i\viA\\ the ab.indoned misrnants, whow 
•elfish souIhco'iI I ever prompt them to roA unhappy Alrira 
of her sons, and frrighi idem hlthT by thousands, to poison 
the fair Uden of liberty teith tlie ranJc teeej of individucd 



15 



Sjondagf ! Nor is it more lo the credit of our nnceBtors that 
they did not command those surage spoiln-a to bear tlieir 
hateful cargo to another shore, wlierc the Hhrine of freedom 
knew no votaries, anil every purchaser would at once be 
b«th a master and a slave. 

"In the dawn of time, Mr. Speaker, wl en the rough f'-el- 
ings of barbarism had notexpcricm-ed the HofleiiinK touches 
of refinement, such an unpruiciplfd nrohiraliou of ihe in- 
herent rights of human nature would liave needed Ihe ({loss 
of an apolo}.'y ; tiul, t<j ihe trrrlaslin^ rniruar/i of Maryland, 
i>e it siiid. thai \rhi-ti hr citizenn rivalled the nation fn'Di 
whence they emigrated in the knowledge of mural princi- 
ples, and ail enlliusiasni in the cause of general freedom, they 

STOOl'ED TO BECOME THE fUKCII ASERS 01' THBlIt FBLLOW- 

CilBATURES, and to introduce an hi-rrdilary bondage into 
Ihe buiom of their country, which should widen with every 
successive generatioi. 

" For my own part, I would willingly draw ilic veil of oh- 
liviou over this diig^istiiig scene (>/ iniquity. Imt that Ihe 
present abject state of those who are desi-emled from tli>se 
Kidnapped sutTerers ))crpetually brings it lorward to the 
memory. 

" But wlicrefore should we confine the edge of censure 
to our ancestors, or those from whom they purchased? 
Are not we ehuallv guilty ( They strewed around Ihe 
seeds of slavery, we ciiEmsH and si-stain tub growth. 
They introduced llif system, WK bm.aroe, in vioor atb, and 

OONPIKM IT. 

" For shame, sir ; let us throw off the mask ; it Is a cob- 
web one at besi, ami the world will see through it. It irill 
not do, thus to talk like philosophers, ami art like unrelent- 
ing tyrants ; lo In' perpetually sermonizing it, xtith libeity 
fur our text, and actual oppression /yr our commentary. 
"Survey the couiilrics, sir, where the hand of freedom 
conducts the ploughshare, and compare their produce with 
yours. Your granaries, in this view, appear like the store- 
nouses of emmets, tnough not supplied with equal industry. 
To trace the cause of this disparity belwcen tlie fruits of a 
freeman's voluntary labors, animated by the hope of profit, 
»nd the slow-paced efforts of a slave, who acts I'rom com- 
pulsion only, who has no incitement to exertion but fear, 
no prospect of remuneration to encourage, would be insult- 
ing the understanding. The cause and the etfect are too 
obvious to escape observation. ..... 

Thb extension op CIVIL slavery ought TO alarm us. 
In truth, we are the only nation upon earth that ever con- 
sidered 'manumission' as a ground of apprehension, or 
the 'extension of slavery ' a political desideralunx." 
That was said in 1739. 

I will say, with regard to the subject which was 
ap a few inoments since, whenever a bill can be 
framed honestly to carry out the obligations of the 
Constitution, and careluily guarding against abuses, 
1 will consent to carry out all these obligations in 
good faith ; but good faith does not require that the 
rights of the States shall be perverted to enable per- 
sons to carry into eflect the purpose of recapturing 
fugitive slaves. It should be remembered that where 
the interests of freedom and shivery are in contact, 
the interests of liberty should be preserved, protected, 
and guarded ; and it is the duty of the Senate and 
of the National Legislature to protect and guard 
those rights of freedom. 

Now, sir, with a single word aboi:t this general 
■question, I leave the subject. My purpose and aim 
have been, not to throw any apple of discord into the 
Senate, or'to e.xcite any angry feelings; but when an 
attempt was made by the Senator from South Caro- 
lina to give, with all the authority attached to his 
great r.aineand reputation, an historical account of 
the manner in which this subject had arisen and 
had been treated, and when 1 saw in that historical 
account grg^t injustice had been done, as I thought, 
I considered that a sense of duty required me, ac- 
cording to the measure of my leeble abilities, to cor- 
re<n it, and attempt to do it justice. I have no pur- 
pose and no desire to say or do anything ihat may 
be e.icciting, (?r wound the feelings of anybody. The 
honorable Senator from North Carolina, [Mr. Bad- 
"(JEH,] in his appeal to the Senate, puts the question 
to us, if we are willing to go on vs'ith a measure 
"which the people of the Southern Stales must con- 
sider as a great wrong and an insult to their feelings'? 
I will tell you where I think this e.\citement grows 
from and springs from. I believe it grows from the 
very building in which we stand ; and that the peo- 
ple of the South never suspected that they were be- 
ing wronged and insulted, till they were told so from 



the city of Wnshingion. 1 believe that disturbine 
matter goes out in speechnB made In this Hall, and 
in the other end of the Capitol. 

I believe that no poHsible ingenuity, no course of 
reasoning, could have inducud the LeKislaiurea of 
the Souiturii Slates to think that a simple perse- 
verance in a courMo of It-gislntion, comnjencinx with 
the Corsiitution, and older than the Constitution it- 
self, is insulting and wrong, unless it had been in- 
dustriously circulated and sent out in speeches made 
here. 

Now, sir, an appeal is made to gentlemen of the 
North, to come forward and save this Union. I make 
an uppciil logcnlleinenuf the .South, and I ask them to 
cea.4f from representing the North us oppressive; I 
ask them lo cease from renrescnting that there is a de- 
sign, or a purpose, or a wish to do wrong or injustice 
to any portion of this Confederacy; 1 ask them to 
cease, from this day henceforth and forever, from rep- 
resenting that the (lassage of the Ordinance of 1767, 
and applying it to the Territories of the United .S'ates 
in the bills organizing Territorial fioverniiients, is 
anything but a bill that coincides with the Constitu- 
tion, and runs with it to the present time; I ask 
them to go home and tell their constituents that this 
bill is the same which was applied by the old Con- 
tinental Confederacy to every inch of territory which 
we then owned, and that there has never been a Ter- 
ritorial bill dillerent from this, down to the organiza- 
tion of the Oregon Territory, in which the right and 
the power of Congress to legislate upon this very 
suiiject of slavery has not been introduced and acted 
upon undisputed. Now, if gentlemen from the 
Southern .Siate.^ will do this, if they will put the his- 
tory of Governrmnt right before their own constitu- 
ency upon this subject, they will do more lo allay 
the agitation there than the whole N<)rlh can possi- 
bly do. What is asked of the North? They are 
asked not only lo abandon the policy under which 
the Constitution was framed, but the honorable 
Senator from Soutli Carolina, speaking for the South 
upon this subject, comes forward, and not only 
wants us lo abandon it — lo abandon all that we have 
done under the Constitution — but lo give up the 
Constitution itself. That is what we are very mod- 
estly asked to do. He says : " Is it not then certain, 
that if something decisive is not now done to arrest 
it, the South will have to choose between abolition 
and Secession?" What is to be done 7 The honor- 
able Senator from South Carolina requires the inser- 
tion of a provision in the Constitution which will 
restore to the South the power which she possessed 
to protect herself This, sir, is the very modest con- 
cession we are called upon to make ; we are not only 
to give up the whole policy of legislation under which 
we have lived for si.xty years, but we are to give up 
the Constitution itself, and insert a provision that 
shall forever maintain the equilibrium intended to 
be e.-tablished. Sir, ingenuity is at fault when it 
comes to speculate upon the character of this pro- 
posed amendment. 

Well, what is that amendment lo be? Sl'.all it be 
provided that the North shall not be populated any 
faster than the South? Or shall it prjvide that the 
voice of the shiveholding .States, few as they may 
be, shall always be equal to that of the non-slave- 
holding States, however numerous and however 
much exceeding them in population ? The Senator 
did not see fit to explain the nature of the amend- 
ment he proposed, but simply announced there must 
be some ainendmenl made, without telling us what 
it was, as the price of the peace we are seeking. I 
look, then, upon it as a dissolution, so far as the set- 
tled opinions of that Senator are concerned, and that 
the lime for which some of the sister Slates of Souttl 
Carolina were not quite prepared fifteen years ago. 
has now come, and unless this important constitu- 
tional amendment is made by way of equilibrium, 
the South are prepared for secession, and that seces- 
sion they will take, because he says they will be 
forced to choose between abolition and secession ; 



16 



and, indeed, as things are now moving, he thinks 
ihey will not be reijuired to sicede. Ag^iutiun, if not 
(.easi-d, will do the worli fur thtni. 

With thi<< expusition of the mutter, I leave it, and 
1 kuTe the country to judge who it is that usurps 
pi'Wt-r, and who it is ilut kn-ps up agiiuiiun — 
wlu iht-r it is the men of thi- North or of the South 
who are to hlame for the presi-nt slate of excitement 
in the country. As regards the threiiis of eeci sgjon 
made by the Senator from South Carolina, apparent- 
ly n-gurdInK that us ticiiij; the only lemtdy Icjr the 
evils under which the South is no-.v sulVerinij, I have 
only to say, that of the propriety of the measure it 
is for them to jud^re, and for ilu-iii to decide in view 
of the measure and its conseipiences. 

Let me 8ay, in conclusion, that that is not the end 
nor the purpose at which I aim, and at whicli, 
a* far as I know, those with wlioni I act aim. 
We desire action, not out of the C'onsiiiuiion, 
or a^famst the Constitution, but in aiid under ii. 
We desire to see that Constitution carried out 
as intended by its framers, and to see it adminis-it-red 
in the spirit in which i: was formed. And, sir, we 
deeiri- to see, also, the abuiiiion of slavery eficcted 
tlirouu'hout the world. I will not undertake to say 
how it is to be done ; but no a<Mion of this Govern- 
ment is desired to t ll'ect it. ^VL> do no* e.\()ect that 
public ««r political measures are to elleci it ; but by 
appealing to the hearts and consciences of men, by 
bringinj^ home the principles of Christianiiv and the 
appeals of humanity to those who have the power 
lo inllucnce the men aroiitid them, and who have 
hearts to feel, we trust they will be induced to rem- 
edy or remove the evils under which the country, 
in this connection, labors. This is what we dtsire, 
and aim at ; and firmly belitvinj^ in the providen- 
ces of God, we trust the day will yet dawn upon 



this country when the word slavery shall be a word 
without a meaning; and when tltose whose efforts 
are for iiniveisal freedom shall have, as their fathers 
had in the days of the Revolutir)n, the earnest, 
hearty sympathies of those who live m the slavc- 
holiling Siat'.s; and when every section of the 
Union will join hands with the other in spreading 
abroad the principles of humanity, philosophy, and 
of Christianity, which shall elevate every son and 
daughter of the human ra.X' to lh.it liberty for which 
they were created, and for which they were destined 
by God. 

That happy period, sir, will yet dawn upon the 
destinies of this nation ; and then sliall the united 
and universal shout of a regenerated people go up in 
one strong swelling chorus to the throne of t'le Most 
High, unmingled with the groans or prayers of the 
victims of oppression, living under any human form 
of government. These opinions, sir. we entertain, 
and these hopes wo cherish, and we do not fear to 
avosv them h< re now, always, and forever. We ask 
not the aidof thi.s Government to bring it about; for 
we know that under the Constitution you have no 
power to nuve in the work, and therefore anv such 
appeal of ours would be ill-timed. What we have a 
right t'> ask. and do ask, in the name of justice, of 
humanity, and of liberty, is that you place not this 
Government in the way— that you do not Ijv any 
action of yours interpose to extend the boundaries 
of slavery, or retard the progress of human freedom 
and improvement. Sir, this great cause must pros- 
per, and it is of little consequence to the cause 
whether this Government is found for it or aga'nst 
it ; but it is of grt\tt moment to the Government, lest, 
unhappily, in this great controversy, it be found 
righting against God. 



PnuleJ aiKl iur filt by Biiell A- BlaDcbard, Sixil) siretL, south of Ptuneyl«-ania avenue. 
Price, uw- dollar per hundred. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 898 114 5 







LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



0011 898 1145 m 



